Incentives and Wage Rigidity

Edward Lazear

No 1299, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: With the growth of the literature on incentive compensation has come the belief by some that incentive pay may be less rigid than pay that is not designed to effect incentives. Some have gone so far as to argue that this may explain differences in unemployment rates across countries. it is shown that there is no direct link between incentives and wage rigidity. Many compensation schemes that provide incentives have the reverse effect: That is, they tend to make wages more rigid than would be the case were incentives not an issue atall. This paper explores the relationship between wage rigidity and the provision of incentives in a variety of circumstances.

Date: 1984-03
Note: LS
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Published as Lazear, Edward P. "Incentives and Wage Rigidity." American Economic Review, Vol. 74, No. 2, (May 1984), pp. 339-344.

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