On Sand and the Role of Grease in Labor Markets: How Does Germany Compare?

September 1, 2002

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Format: Chicago

Jörg Decressin, and Anja Decressin. On Sand and the Role of Grease in Labor Markets: How Does Germany Compare?, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 2002) accessed December 26, 2024

Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper investigates wage setting in (west) Germany using the German Socioeconomic Panel dataset on individuals and compares the findings with those available for the United Kingdom and the United States. The fraction of job stayers in (west) Germany who suffer unchanged wages or wage cuts compares with that in similar data for the Anglo-American countries, even after various adjustments for potential reporting errors. While nominal wages of job stayers are rigid downward, real wages are not. Nevertheless, the macroeconomic effects of the nominal rigidity are limited and cannot be weakened substantially by raising inflation.

Subject: Civil service, Inflation, Labor, Prices, Real wages, Wage adjustments, Wages

Keywords: Base pay, Change distribution, Civil servant, Civil service, Inflation, Inflation Targets, Job stayer, Real wages, Wage adjustments, Wage change, Wage cut, Wage data, Wage decline, Wage growth, Wage Rigidities, Wage rigidity, Wage Setting, Wages, WP

Publication Details

Pages:

37
Volume:

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DOI:

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Issue:

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Series:

Working Paper No. 2002/164
Stock No:

WPIEA1642002
ISBN:

9781451858006
ISSN:

1018-5941

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