This paper investigates the wage-setting behaviour of Irish firms. We place particular emphasis on the use of flexible pay components and examine how these allow firms to deal with shocks requiring a reduction in costs without having to cut base wages. The results presented in this paper are...

Despite the importance of understanding and estimating the “stickiness” of prices of goods and services, empirical assessment of price setting behaviour by firms has remained relatively limited. This is the first paper to provide detailed information on the pressures, manner and frequency...

Evaluating the true level of factor inputs (such as labour and capital) is an essential component of estimating an economy’s productive potential. The standard measure of the total economy’s labour input is to aggregate the number of people employed. A related measure of labour inputs is to...

In this paper we represent structural unemployment by relating observed unemployment to wage inflation. An estimated series for the non-accelerating wage rate of unemployment (NAWRU) shows that the unemployment gap between observed unemployment and the structural rate provides an intuitive...

Recent increases in financial innovation, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon banking culture, have seen a considerable growth in the amount of financial products available to the general public. Simultaneously, many workers are increasingly assuming responsibility for planning for their future...

Irish National Income and Expenditure Accounts do not contain information on capital stocks or capital services estimation. Estimates of the national capital stock and the depreciation of its fixed assets are basic macroeconomic aggregates and are integral components for many modelling...