Determinants of wage stickiness in a developing economy

Waqas Ahmed, Ali Choudhary, Sajawal Khan (), Saima Naeem and Gylfi Zoega

Economic Modelling, 2014, vol. 38, issue C, 296-304

Abstract: We explore wage flexibility in a developing country and compare our results to what has been found in similar studies using European data. In particular, we conduct a survey of 1189 firms in Pakistan to analyze the determinants of wage rigidity. We find that the existence of competitive wages and an interaction with the informal economy are statistically significant determinants of wage stickiness. While the role of competitive wages is similar to what has been found in studies of European firms, the latter find a much larger role for turnover, collective bargaining and employment protection. In contrast, in Pakistan we find that firms hiring from the informal sector are significantly more flexible in changing their wages. This suggests that the informal sector adds to the wage flexibility of the formal sector.

Keywords: Survey of employers; Wage rigidity; Labor market institutions; Monetary policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E5 F4 O1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:38:y:2014:i:c:p:296-304

DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2014.01.016

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