Template-Type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Martine Druant
Author-X-Name-First: Martine
Author-X-Name-Last: Druant
Author-Email: martine.druant@nbb.be
Author-Workplace-Name: National Bank of Belgium
Author-Name: Silvia Fabiani
Author-X-Name-First: Silvia
Author-X-Name-Last: Fabiani
Author-Email: silvia.fabiani@bancaditalia.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Bank of Italy
Author-Name: Gábor Kézdi
Author-X-Name-First: Gábor
Author-X-Name-Last: Kézdi
Author-Email: kezdig@ceu.hu
Author-Workplace-Name: Magyar Nemzeti Bank (central bank of Hungary), Central European University, Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Author-Name: Ana Lamo
Author-X-Name-First: Ana
Author-X-Name-Last: Lamo
Author-Email: Ana.Lamo@ecb.int
Author-Workplace-Name: European Central Bank
Author-Name: Fernando Martins
Author-X-Name-First: Fernando
Author-X-Name-Last: Martins
Author-Email: fmartins@bportugal.pt
Author-Workplace-Name: Bank of Portugal, ISEG (Technical University of Lisbon), Universidade Lusíada of Lisbon
Author-Name: Roberto Sabbatini
Author-X-Name-First: Roberto
Author-X-Name-Last: Sabbatini
Author-Email: roberto.sabbatini@bancaditalia.it
Author-Workplace-Name: Bank of Italy

Title: How are firms’ wages and prices linked: survey evidence in Europe

Abstract: This paper presents new evidence on the patterns of price and wage adjustment in European firms and on the extent of nominal rigidities. It uses a unique dataset collected through a firm-level survey conducted in a broad range of countries and covering various sectors. Several conclusions are drawn from this evidence. Firms adjust wages less frequently than prices: the former tend to remain unchanged for about 15 months on average, the latter for around 10 months. The degree of price rigidity varies substantially across sectors and depends strongly on economic features, such as the intensity of competition, the exposure to foreign markets and the share of labour costs in total cost. Instead, country specificities, mostly related to the labour market institutional setting, are more relevant in characterising the pattern of wage adjustment. The latter exhibits also a substantial degree of time-dependence, as firms tend to concentrate wage changes in a specific month, mostly January in the majority of countries. Wage and price changes feed into each other at the micro level and there is a relationship between wage and price rigidity.

Length: 52 pages
Creation-Date: 2012
File-URL: http://www.mnb.hu/letoltes/op-102.pdf
File-Format: Application/pdf
Number: 2012/102
Classification-JEL: D21, E30, J31
Keywords: survey, wage rigidity, price rigidity, indexation, institutions, time dependent

Handle: RePEc:mnb:opaper:2012/102