Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s*
- 1 March 2003
- journal article
- Published by Wiley in The Scandinavian Journal of Economics
- Vol. 105 (1) , 15-30
- https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9442.00002
Abstract
We document the results of a repeat survey, which updates Agell and Lundborg (1995), on wage rigidity in a sample of 159 Swedish manufacturing firms, conducted during the severe Swedish recession of the 1990s. It is found that not even a prolonged period of very high unemployment and quite low inflation softened workers’ resistance to wage cuts. We discuss possible reasons for this. In addition, we report new evidence on underbidding, efficiency‐wage mechanisms, and unemployment persistence.Keywords
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