The Consequences of Rigid Wages in Search Models

Robert Shimer

No 10326, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: The standard theory of equilibrium unemployment, the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model, cannot explain the magnitude of the business cycle fluctuations in two of its central elements, unemployment and vacancies. Modifying the model to make the present value of wages unresponsive to current labor market conditions amplifies fluctuations in unemployment and vacancies by an order of magnitude, significantly improving the performance of the model. Despite this, the welfare consequences of such rigid wages is negligible.

JEL-codes: E24 E32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2004-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge
Note: EFG
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (200)

Published as Robert Shimer, 2004. "The Consequences of Rigid Wages in Search Models," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(2-3), pages 469-479, 04/05.

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