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Frontiers of Economics in China

ISSN 1673-3444

ISSN 1673-3568(Online)

CN 11-5744/F

Postal Subscription Code 80-978

Front. Econ. China    2015, Vol. 10 Issue (2) : 252-271    https://doi.org/10.3868/s060-004-015-0011-8
research-article
The Choice of Technology and Equilibrium Wage Rigidity
Haiwen Zhou()
Department of Economics, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA 23529, USA
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Abstract

In this general equilibrium model, firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose increasing returns technologies to maximize profits. Capital and labor are the two factors of production. The existence of efficiency wages leads to unemployment. The model is able to explain some interesting observations of the labor market. First, even though there is neither long-term labor contract nor costs of wage adjustment, wage rigidity is an equilibrium phenomenon: an increase in the exogenous job separation rate, the size of the population, the cost of exerting effort, and the probability that shirking is detected will not change the equilibrium wage rate. Second, the equilibrium wage rate increases with the level of capital stock. Third, a higher level of capital stock does not necessarily reduce the unemployment rate. That is, there is no monotonic relationship between capital accumulation and the unemployment rate.

Keywords unemployment      efficiency wages      wage rigidity      choice of technology      oligopolistic competition     
Issue Date: 19 June 2015
 Cite this article:   
Haiwen Zhou. The Choice of Technology and Equilibrium Wage Rigidity[J]. Front. Econ. China, 2015, 10(2): 252-271.
 URL:  
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/10.3868/s060-004-015-0011-8
https://academic.hep.com.cn/fec/EN/Y2015/V10/I2/252
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