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Working Paper
Why does the cyclical behavior of real wages change over time?
This paper seeks to understand the evolution of the cyclical behavior of U.S. real wage rates from the interwar period to the post World War II period using a dynamic general equilibrium model that emphasizes demand-driven business cycle fluctuations. In the model, changes in the cyclical behavior of real wages arise endogenously from the interactions between nominal wage and price rigidities and an evolving input-output structure.
Discussion Paper
A business cycle model with nominal wage contracts and government
We incorporate nominal wage contracts and government into a quantitative general equilibrium framework. Thus, our model includes three types of shocks: a fiscal shock, a monetary shock, and a technology shock. We show that it is possible in this type of environment to generate a low correlation between hours worked and the return to working, a moderately negative correlation between output and aggregate prices and a moderately positive correlation between the real wage rate and output. In sharp contrast with RBC models with indivisible labor, wage contracts magnify mainly the effect of ...
Working Paper
The Adjustments of Hours and Real Wages to Technology Shocks: Assessing the Role of Nominal Rigidities
Nominal rigidities are generally viewed as important for the transmission of monetary policy. We argue that nominal rigidities are important also for the transmission of technology shocks, especially for explaining their effects on hours and real wages. Evidence suggests that a positive technology shock leads to a short-run decline in labor hours and a gradual rise in real wages. We examine the ability of an RBC model augmented with real frictions, a pure sticky-price model, a pure sticky-wage model, and a model combining sticky prices and sticky wages in accounting for this evidence. We find ...