We present the results from a repeat survey on wage rigidity in a sample of 159 Swedish firms, conducted during a prolonged period of very high unemployment and very low inflation. We document the virtual absence of wage cuts, and trace this pervasive nominal rigidity to a set of interacting...

A recent model by Akerlof, Dickens and Perry (2000) (ADP) predicts that low inflation may cause unemployment to persist at high levels. This finding should be of major interest to European countries where inflation is targeted at low levels. We specify a small open economy version of the ADP...

We analyse the effects of immigration quotas on growth and discounted welfare in a North-South version of the quality ladders growth model. Immigration quotas in the North increase the growth rate of utility for all consumers. However, they lower the static utility level and discounted welfare...

We analyze the theoretical effects on growth and welfare in transition economies of emigration of educated and uneducated labor, of higher emigration probability, etc. Using a Grossman-Helpman growth model, we show that the prospects of labor market integration with the EU raises the expected...

In 1999, only one of three US scientists and engineers was employed to do R&D and, in several countries over the last forty to fifty years, employment of skilled workers for R&D purposes appears not to have kept pace with the overall increase in the supply of skilled workers. Low utilization of...

This paper reviews the empirical literature on tests of different wage theories of relevance in particular to the Swedish labour market. The empirical results are confronted with the institutional changes in the Sweden during the last twenty years. Not much empirical support can be found for the...

Swedish wage setting has undergone drastic changes during the last 10-15 years. While Sweden was known for its narrow wage distribution, wage differentiation and wage bargaining at the individual level has become leading principles among white-collar workers’ unions. The purpose of the present...

Recent empirical evidence has shown that nominal wages are more rigid among blue-collar (low income) workers than among white-collar (high income) workers. We show theoretically that employees in crisis-ridden firms will reject wage cut proposals that save jobs if risk aversion is great,...

We present a growth model in which the work morale of R&D workers is endogenously determined by fair wage considerations and show that increases in endowments of researchers do not necessarily have positive growth effects. The results is in line with the empirical observations that the very...

We present a small open economy version of Akerlof, Dickens and Perry (2000) and, based on Swedish data, we show that there exists a negatively sloped long run Phillips curve. Regressions on quarterly data 1963-2000 and estimated inflation expectations show that this Phillips curve is relatively...