The Limited Influence of Unemployment on the Wage Bargain

S-Tier
Journal: American Economic Review
Year: 2008
Volume: 98
Issue: 4
Pages: 1653-74

Score contribution per author:

4.022 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 4.0x S-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

When a job-seeker and an employer meet, find a prospective joint surplus, and bargain over the wage, conditions in the outside labor market, including especially unemployment, may have limited influence. The job-seeker's only credible threat during bargaining is to hold out for a better deal. The employer's threat is to delay bargaining. Consequently, the outcome of the bargain depends on the relative costs of delays to the parties, rather than on the payoffs that result from exiting negotiations. Modeling bargaining in this way makes wages less responsive to unemployment. A stochastic model of the labor market with credible bargaining and reasonable parameter values yields larger employment fluctuations than does the standard Mortensen-Pissarides model. (JEL J22, J23, J31, J64)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aecrev:v:98:y:2008:i:4:p:1653-74
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25