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Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach

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  • Luis A. Gil-Alana

    (University of Navarra)

  • Marinko Skare

    (Juraj Dobrila University of Pula)

Abstract

The disconnection between productivity and workers’ compensation after 1980 is a fact not only for the U.S., Canada, Japan but also for Europe. The level of the decoupling between labor productivity and real hourly compensation is highest in the U.S. and Japan and lowest in Norway and Germany. This study investigates the great decoupling phenomena between 1950 and 2014 for eight economies with available time series data. The results should assist policy makers in developing efficient wage-setting mechanisms and help researchers in the field of wage moderation policy and the great decoupling. For this purpose we use fractional integration and cointegration techniques. Countries with stagnating minimum wages, rigid wage moderation policy and a high level of technological progress (strong total factor productivity growth) register higher wage stagnation in relation to labor productivity. Policy makers should be extremely careful when using wage moderation policy to improve a country’s competitiveness and should monitor the wage stagnation behind labor productivity (great decoupling) since workers have been producing more but receiving significantly less since 1980. The great decoupling is more prominent today and it is constantly increasing not just in the U.S. and Japan but worldwide.

Suggested Citation

  • Luis A. Gil-Alana & Marinko Skare, 2018. "Testing the great decoupling: a long memory approach," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 45(4), pages 801-820, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:empiri:v:45:y:2018:i:4:d:10.1007_s10663-017-9390-6
    DOI: 10.1007/s10663-017-9390-6
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    Cited by:

    1. Bobanović, Mieta, 2021. "Germany And The United Kingdom: Under The Shadow Of The Great Decoupling," UTMS Journal of Economics, University of Tourism and Management, Skopje, Macedonia, vol. 12(2), pages 147-155.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Productivity; Employment; Wages; Great decoupling; Long memory;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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