The Financial Channel of Wage Rigidity

Benjamin Schoefer

No 29201, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: I propose a financial channel of wage rigidity. In recessions, rather than propping up marginal (new hires’) costs of labor, rigid average wages squeeze cash flows, forcing firms to cut hiring due to financial constraints. Indeed, empirical cash flows and profits would turn acyclical if wages were only moderately more procyclical. I study this channel in a search and matching model with financial constraints and rigid wages among incumbent workers, while new hires’ wages are flexible. Individually, each feature generates no amplification. By contrast, their interaction can account for much of the empirical labor market fluctuations—breaking the neutrality of incumbents’ wages for hiring, and showing that financial amplification of business cycles requires wage rigidity.

JEL-codes: E2 G3 J01 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-fdg, nep-hrm, nep-isf, nep-lab and nep-mac
Note: AP CF EFG LS ME PE PR
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Related works:
Working Paper: The Financial Channel of Wage Rigidity (2021)
Working Paper: The Financial Channel of Wage Rigidity (2016)
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