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Insights gained from conversations with labor market decision makers

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  • Bewley, Truman F.

Abstract

I describe insights into wage dynamics and downward wage rigidity obtained from more than two hundred interviews with businesspeople, labor leaders, and various labor market intermediaries and made in the early 1990s in the Northeast of the United States. I explain the morale explanation for downward rigidity of the pay of existing employees and discuss what morale is, why businesspeople care about it, and why pay cuts damage it. I discuss the origin and nature of pay structures internal to an establishment, the relation between pay at different establishments, and why firms tend to lay off workers rather than cut pay. The findings of the study to be discussed are reported in detail in Truman Bewley, Why Wages Don't Fall during a Recession. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press (1999). JEL Classification: E3, J3, J5

Suggested Citation

  • Bewley, Truman F., 2007. "Insights gained from conversations with labor market decision makers," Working Paper Series 776, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:2007776
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    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp776.pdf
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Galuscak, Kamil & Keeney, Mary & Nicolitsas, Daphne & Smets, Frank & Strzelecki, Pawel & Vodopivec, Matija, 2012. "The determination of wages of newly hired employees: Survey evidence on internal versus external factors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 802-812.
    2. Ashley Dunstan & Troy Matheson & Hamish Pepper, 2009. "Analysing wage and price dynamics in New Zealand," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2009/06, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
    3. Brian Micallef, 2016. "The Adjustment of Maltese Firms to the Post-crisis Economic Environment: Evidence from a Firm-level Survey," International Business Research, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 9(9), pages 122-133, September.
    4. Carlsson, Mikael & Westermark, Andreas, 2016. "Labor market frictions and optimal steady-state inflation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 67-79.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    wage determination; wage rigidity;

    JEL classification:

    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles
    • J3 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs
    • J5 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining

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