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Growth, Unemployment and Wage Inertia

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  • Xavier Raurich
  • Valeri Sorolla

Abstract

We introduce wage setting via efficiency wages in the neoclassical one-sector growth model to study the growth effects of wage inertia. We compare the dynamic equilibrium of an economy with wage inertia with the equilibrium of an economy without it. We show that wage inertia affects the long run employment rate and that the transitional dynamics of the main economic variables will be different because wages are a state variable when wage inertia is introduced. In particular, we show that the model with wage inertia can explain some growth patterns that cannot be explained when wages are flexible. We also study the growth effects of permanent technological and fiscal policy shocks in these two economies. During the transition, the growth effects of technological shocks obtained when wages exhibit inertia may be the opposite of those obtained when wages are flexible. These technological shocks may have long run effects if there is wage inertia.

Suggested Citation

  • Xavier Raurich & Valeri Sorolla, 2012. "Growth, Unemployment and Wage Inertia," DEGIT Conference Papers c017_029, DEGIT, Dynamics, Economic Growth, and International Trade.
    • Handle: RePEc:deg:conpap:c017_029
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    Cited by:

    1. Raurich, Xavier & Sorolla, Valeri, 2014. "Growth, unemployment and wage inertia," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 42-59.
    2. Valeri Sorolla, 2014. "The Long Run Effect of Growth on Employment in a Labor Market with Matching Frictions: The Role of Labor Market Institutions," UFAE and IAE Working Papers 949.14, Unitat de Fonaments de l'Anàlisi Econòmica (UAB) and Institut d'Anàlisi Econòmica (CSIC), revised 02 Feb 2015.
    3. Ahmed Tritah, 2016. "Endogenous wage rigidities, human capital accumulation and growth," TEPP Working Paper 2016-08, TEPP.
    4. Aleksandar Vasilev, 2017. "A Real-Business-Cycle Model with Efficiency Wages and a Government Sector: The Case of Bulgaria," Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, Central European Journal of Economic Modelling and Econometrics, vol. 9(4), pages 359-377, December.
    5. Murota, Ryu-ichiro, 2019. "Negative interest rate policy in a permanent liquidity trap," MPRA Paper 93498, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage inertia; growth; efficiency wages; transitional dynamics; unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O41 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - One, Two, and Multisector Growth Models

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