The Degree of Indexation in Major U.S. Union Contracts

Roger Kaufman () and Geoffrey Woglom

ILR Review, 1986, vol. 39, issue 3, 439-448

Abstract: The authors propose that the most appropriate measure of the degree of indexation in a union contract is the marginal elasticity of the average expected wage during the life of the contract with respect to unanticipated changes in the price level. They present estimates of this elasticity for 68 U.S. contracts negotiated between 1971 and 1983 with cost-of-living escalators. The average degree of indexation in the sample, .48, is considerably smaller than previous estimates of similar marginal elasticities because the estimation method more accurately incorporates caps, minimum COLAs, and the exact specification of the COLA clauses.

Date: 1986
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:39:y:1986:i:3:p:439-448

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