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A number of authors have argued that the conventional model of unemployment dynamics due to Mortensen and Pissarides has difficulty accounting for the relatively volatile behavior of labor market activity over the business cycle. We address this issue by modifying the Mortensen‐Pissarides framework to allow for staggered multiperiod wage contracting. What emerges is a tractable relation for wage dynamics that is a natural generalization of the period‐by‐period Nash bargaining outcome in the conventional formulation. We then show that a reasonable calibration of the model can account for the cyclical behavior of wages and labor market activity observed in the data.

This paper analyzes how changes in the skill mix of local labor supply are absorbed by the economy, distinguishing between three adjustment mechanisms: wages, expansion in size of those production units using the more abundant skill group more intensively, and more intensive use of the more abundant skill group within production units. We contribute to the literature by analyzing these adjustments on the firm rather than industry level, using German administrative data. We show that most adjustments occur within firms through changes in relative factor intensities and that firms entering and exiting the market are an important additional absorption mechanism.

We present evidence on the frequency of nominal wage adjustment using SIPP data adjusted for measurement error. The SIPP is a representative sample of the US population. Our main results are: (i) The average quarterly probability of a nominal wage change is between 21.1 and 26.6 percent, depending on the assumptions used. (ii) Wage changes are much more likely when workers change jobs. (iii) The frequency of wage adjustment does not display significant seasonal patterns. (iv) The hazard of a nominal wage change first increases and then decreases, with a peak at 12 months.

The transition to a market economy has been analyzed primarily from a stabilization prospective. To complement that approach, we focus on a pure relative price shock and subsequent price adjustments. A model of monopolistic competition with costly labor adjustment indicates that relative price shocks can induce overall output decline because rigid sectoral real wages do not adjust to offset sectoral price changes, and firms that benefit from the price shock engage in monopolistic behavior. In Poland, empirical evidence suggests that relative wage rigidity contributed to lower employment and output, but there is no strong evidence that competition was important.

Wage setters take into account the future consequences of their current wage choices in the presence of downward nominal wage rigidities. Several interesting implications arise. First, a closed-form solution for a long-run Phillips curve relates average unemployment to average wage inflation; the curve is virtually vertical for high inflation rates but becomes flatter as inflation declines. Second, macroeconomic volatility shifts the Phillips curve outward, implying that stabilization policies can play an important role in shaping the trade-off. Third, nominal wages tend to be endogenously rigid also upward, at low inflation. Fourth, when inflation decreases, volatility of unemployment increases whereas the volatility of inflation decreases: this implies a long-run trade-off also between the volatility of unemployment and that of wage inflation.

For a sample of US industries, nominal wage and price inflation follow aggregate price inflation closely during economic expansions. Hence, fluctuations in profit markup and real output are moderate in the face of expansionary demand shocks. During recessions, however, industrial nominal wage deflation exceeds that of the aggregate price level. This is in contras to producers' attempt to maintain, or even increase, industrial real price inflation during recessions. Consistently, the increase in the profit markup is correlated with an increase in output contraction and a reduction in workers' real standard of living during recessions.

In this study, the effects of labour market institutions (LMIs) and innovation on youth employment are examined using data for 27 sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries over the period 2007 and 2019. The feasible generalised least squares method is employed in the empirical analysis. The study finds that a combination of flexible (employment protection) and tight (wage adjustments) LMIs is the best means of improving youth employment among SSA countries. Moreover, while R&D (research & development) expenditure of firms (demand-side innovation) promotes youth employment in the region, more supply-side focussed innovations are found to directly limit youth employment. It is, however, found that LMIs temper the effects of innovation on youth employment. In particular, LMIs favour innovations that are supply side, but limit the positive effects of demand-side innovation on employment. Policy measures on reforming LMIs and promoting innovation for improving youth employment are provided in the study.

Why did Finland experience, in 1991–1993, the deepest recession observed in an industrialized country since the 1930s? Using a dynamic general equilibrium model with labor frictions, we argue that the collapse of the Soviet-Finnish trade was a major contributor to the contraction. Finland's experience mirrors that of the transition economies of Eastern Europe, which suffered similar deep recessions coupled with institutional changes. By focusing on the Finnish case, we isolate the effects of the Finnish-Soviet trade collapse and shed new light on the sources of recessions in transition economies.

This paper analyses economic implications and the transmission mechanisms of different options for creating and using fiscal space. For creating fiscal space, we consider prioritizing expenditures, raising revenue, and scaled-up aid. Fiscal space is used for increasing health and education spending, infrastructure spending, or both. The analysis takes place within the World Bank's MAMS model, which is a multisectoral real computable general equilibrium model that incorporates the Millennium Development Goals. The model has been calibrated for Burkina Faso, which serves as an illustrative country example. Some of the key results are that absorbing a more educated labor force requires fundamental structural change in the economy; increasing health and education spending can face sizeable capacity constraints; and infrastructure spending has a positive effect on growth as well as education and health outcomes.