The purchasing power argument: Could rising wages foster employment?

Ulrich van Suntum

No 2, CAWM Discussion Papers from University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP)

Abstract: The so-called purchasing power argument of wages (PPA), suggesting that rising wages could increase employment instead of reducing it, is examined within a general theoretical framework. While the demand side is modelled by means of a path-dependent Keynesian model with a Kaldorian saving function, a neoclassical production function is assumed on the supply side. It is shown that there is a core of truth in the PPA, if real wages are lower than marginal productivity of labour. While a temporary demand shock could indeed be overcome by rising wages, it is not possible, however, to outweigh a permanent slump in total demand by that way. Moreover, in contrast to conventional fiscal policy, wage rises according to the PPA imply both a rising price level and the danger of neoclassical unemployment. In an open economy, the relevance of the PPA is generally further reduced.

Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/51269/1/671586319.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:cawmdp:2

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CAWM Discussion Papers from University of Münster, Münster Center for Economic Policy (MEP) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().