A Contribution to the Empirics of Reservation Wages

A-Tier
Journal: American Economic Journal: Economic Policy
Year: 2016
Volume: 8
Issue: 1
Pages: 142-79

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 2 authors) × 2.0x A-tier

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

Abstract

This paper provides evidence on the behavior of reservation wages over the spell of unemployment, using high-frequency longitudinal data on unemployed workers in New Jersey. In comparison to a calibrated job search model, the reservation wage starts out too high and declines too slowly, on average, suggesting that many workers persistently misjudge their prospects or anchor their reservation wage on their previous wage. The longitudinal nature of the data also allows for testing the relationship between job acceptance and the reservation wage, where the reservation wage is measured from a previous interview to avoid bias due to cognitive dissonance. (JEL J22, J31, J64)

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:aea:aejpol:v:8:y:2016:i:1:p:142-79
Journal Field
General
Author Count
2
Added to Database
2026-01-25