PAY CUTS AND MORALE: A TEST OF DOWNWARD NOMINAL RIGIDITY

Jennifer Smith ()

The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) from University of Warwick, Department of Economics

Abstract: This paper tests the ‘morale’ theory of downward nominal wage rigidity. This theory relies on workers disliking nominal pay cuts : cuts should make workers less happy. We investigate this using panel data on individual employees’ pay and satisfaction. We con…rm that nominal cuts do make workers less happy than if their pay had not fallen. But we find no difference in the effect on happiness of cuts and pay freezes. This represents important information about the nature of wage rigidity in practice and the applicability of the morale theory. The morale theory may be able to explain generalised downward wage rigidity, but apparently fails to explain downward nominal rigidity.

Keywords: Wage rigidity; Satisfaction JEL Classification: J30; E24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2002
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:wrk:warwec:649

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