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Non-Walrasian Labor Market and the European Business Cycle

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  • Francesco Zanetti

    (Boston College)

Abstract

This paper investigates to what extent a New Keynesian, monetary model with the addition of a microfounded, non-Walrasian labor market based on union bargaining is able to replicate key aspects of the European business cycle. The presence of a representative union permits to explain two features of the cycle. First, it generates an endogenous mechanism which produces persistent responses of the economy to both supply and demand shocks. Second, labor unionization causes a lower elasticity of marginal costs to output. This leads to lower inflation volatility. The model can replicate the negative correlation between productivity shocks and employment in the data. Model simulations show the superiority of the unionized framework to reproduce European business cycle statistics relative to a model with competitive labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesco Zanetti, 2003. "Non-Walrasian Labor Market and the European Business Cycle," Boston College Working Papers in Economics 574, Boston College Department of Economics, revised 20 May 2004.
    • Handle: RePEc:boc:bocoec:574
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    Cited by:

    1. Lorenza Rossi & Fabrizio Mattesini, 2008. "We analyze, in this paper, a DSGE New Keynesian model with indi- visible labor where firms may belong to two different final goods producing sectors one where wages and employment are determined in co," DISCE - Quaderni dell'Istituto di Economia e Finanza ief0077, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimenti e Istituti di Scienze Economiche (DISCE).
    2. Fabrizio Mattesini & Lorenza Rossi, 2008. "Productivity Shocks And Optimal Monetary Policy In A Unionized Labor Market Economy," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 76(5), pages 578-611, September.
    3. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal policy in unionized labor markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 1498-1534, May.
    4. Zanetti, Francesco, 2011. "Labor market institutions and aggregate fluctuations in a search and matching model," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(5), pages 644-658, June.
    5. Jeanfils, Philippe & Burggraeve, Koen, 2008. ""NONAME": A new quarterly model for Belgium," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 118-127, January.
    6. Mattesini, Fabrizio & Rossi, Lorenza, 2009. "Optimal monetary policy in economies with dual labor markets," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 1469-1489, July.
    7. Chiarini, Bruno & Piselli, Paolo, 2005. "Business cycle, unemployment benefits and productivity shocks," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 670-690, December.
    8. Ardagna, Silvia, 2007. "Fiscal Policy in Unionized Labor Markets," Scholarly Articles 2580048, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    9. Rossi, Lorenza & Mattesini, Fabrizio, 2007. "Optimal Monetary Policy in a Dual Labor Market Economy," MPRA Paper 2468, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 15 Mar 2007.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    trade unions; business cycle; inflation; persistance;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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