Sticky Wages and the Great Depression: Evidence from the United Kingdom
(2023) In European Review of Economic History 27(2). p.196-222- Abstract
- How sticky were wages during the Great Depression? Although classic accounts emphasise the importance of nominal rigidity in amplifying deflationary shocks, the evidence is limited. In this paper, I calculate the degree of nominal wage rigidity in the United Kingdom between the wars using new granular data covering millions of wages. I find that nominal wages changed infrequently but that wage cuts were more common than wage rises on average. Nominal wage adjustment fluctuated over time and by state, so that in 1931 amid falling output and prices more than one-third of workers received wage cuts.
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- author
- Lennard, Jason LU
- publishing date
- 2023
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- European Review of Economic History
- volume
- 27
- issue
- 2
- pages
- 196 - 222
- publisher
- Oxford University Press
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85148947292
- ISSN
- 1474-0044
- DOI
- 10.1093/ereh/heac014
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- id
- ce6fa4ef-3609-4086-b5d5-8d55790c8eb2
- date added to LUP
- 2022-09-13 14:49:37
- date last changed
- 2023-10-20 04:00:45
@article{ce6fa4ef-3609-4086-b5d5-8d55790c8eb2, abstract = {{How sticky were wages during the Great Depression? Although classic accounts emphasise the importance of nominal rigidity in amplifying deflationary shocks, the evidence is limited. In this paper, I calculate the degree of nominal wage rigidity in the United Kingdom between the wars using new granular data covering millions of wages. I find that nominal wages changed infrequently but that wage cuts were more common than wage rises on average. Nominal wage adjustment fluctuated over time and by state, so that in 1931 amid falling output and prices more than one-third of workers received wage cuts.}}, author = {{Lennard, Jason}}, issn = {{1474-0044}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{2}}, pages = {{196--222}}, publisher = {{Oxford University Press}}, series = {{European Review of Economic History}}, title = {{Sticky Wages and the Great Depression: Evidence from the United Kingdom}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ereh/heac014}}, doi = {{10.1093/ereh/heac014}}, volume = {{27}}, year = {{2023}}, }