Wage Adjustment Practices and the Link between Price and Wages: Survey Evidence from Colombian Firms
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.le.n76a12811Keywords:
wage increases, labor market, survey evidence, logit models, ColombiaAbstract
This paper explores firms’ wage adjustment practices in the Colombian formal labor market; specifically, the timing and frequency of wage increases, as well as the link between wage and price changes. We use a survey of 1,305 firms belonging to all economic sectors. The results show that most firms adjust base wages annually, increases were concentrated around observed inflation and none of the firms cut wages. Moreover, factors associated with the performance of firms and workers alike are the main determinants of wage adjustments. The link between wages and price changes is stronger in sectors where labor costs represent a higher share of total costs and in firms operating in sectors with higher labor productivity.
Downloads
References
Agell, Jonas and Lundborg, Per (1995). “Theories of Pay and Unemployment: Survey Evidence from Swedish Manufacturing Firms”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 97, No. 2, pp. 295-307.
Agell, Jonas and Lundborg, Per (2003). “Survey Evidence on Wage Rigidity and Unemployment: Sweden in the 1990s”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 105, No. 1, pp. 15-29.
Amirault, David; Fenton, Paul and Laflèche, Thérèse (2009). “Asking about Wages: Results from the Bank of Canada’s Wage Setting Survey”, Paper presented at the XIV Meeting of the Central Bank Researchers Network of the Americas, Salvador, Bahía, Brazil, 11 – 13 November.
Arango, Luis Eduardo; Ardila, Luz Karine and Gómez, Miguel Ignacio (2010). “Efecto del cambio del salario mínimo en el precio de las comidas fuera del hogar en Colombia”, Borradores de Economía, #584, Banco de la República.
Babecký, Jan; Dybczak, Kamil and Galuščák, Kamil (2008). “Survey on Wage and Price Formation of Czech Firms”, Czech National Bank, Working Paper Series, # 12, December.
Babecký, Jan; Du Caju, Philip; Kosma, Theodora; Lawless, Martina; Messina, Julián and Rõõm, Tairi (2010). “Downward Nominal and Real Wage Rigidity: Survey Evidence from European Firms”, Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Vol. 112, No. 4, pp. 884-910.
Bertola, Giuseppe; Dabusinskas, Aurelijus; Hoebericht, Marco; Izquierdo, Mario; Kwapil, Claudia; Montornès, Jeremi and Radowski, Daniel (2010). “Price, Wage and Employment Response to Shocks: Evidence from the WDN Survey”, Deutsche Bundesbank, Discussion Paper Series 1, Economic Studies, No 02/2010.
Bewley, Truman (1995). “A Depressed Labor Market as Explained by Participants”, The American Economic Review, Vol. 85, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings, pp. 250-254.
Bewley, Truman (1998). “Why not Cut Pay?”, European Economic Review, Vol. 42, No. 3-5, pp. 459-490.
Bewley, Truman (1999). Why Wages don’t Fall during a Recession. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.
Blinder, Alan and Choi, Don (1990). “A Shred of Evidence on Theories of Wage Stickiness”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 105, No. 4, pp. 1003-1015.
Blinder, Alan (1991). “Why are Prices Sticky? Preliminary Results from an Interview Study”, The American Economic Review, Vol. 81, No. 2, pp. 89-96.
Campbell, Carl and Kamlani, Kunal (1997). “The Reasons for Wage Rigidity: Evidence from a Survey of Firms”, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 112, No. 3, pp. 759-789.
Copaciu, Mihai; Neagu, Florian and Braun-Erdei, Horia (2010). “Survey Evidence on Price Setting Patterns of Romanian Firms”, Managerial and Decision Economics, Vol. 31, No. 2-3, pp. 235-247.
Druant, Martine; Fabiani, Silvia; Kezdi, Gabor; Lamo, Ana; Martins, Fernando and Sabbatini, Roberto (2009). “How are Firms’ Wages and Prices Linked: Survey Evidence in Europe”, Working Paper, # 174, National Bank of Belgium.
Gali, Jordi (1994). “Monopolistic Competition, Business Cycles, and the Composition of Aggregate Demand”, Journal of Economic Theory, Vol. 63, No. 1, pp. 73-96.
Iregui, Ana María; Melo, Ligia Alba and Ramírez, María Teresa (2009). “Are Wages Rigid in Colombia? Empirical Evidence Based on a Sample of Wages at the Firm Level. Borradores de Economía, #571i, Banco de la República.
Iregui, Ana María; Melo, Ligia Alba and Ramírez, María Teresa (2010a). “Incrementos y rigideces de los salarios en Colombia: Un estudio a partir de una encuesta a nivel de firma”, Revista de Economía del Rosario, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 279-311.
Iregui, Ana María; Melo, Ligia Alba and Ramírez, María Teresa (2010b). “Downward Wage Rigidities and Other Firms’ Responses to an Economic Slowdown: Evidence from a Survey of Colombian Firms”, Borradores de Economía, # 612, Banco de la República.
Julio, Juan Manuel; Zárate, Héctor Manuel and Hernández, Manuel Darío (2009). “The stickiness of Colombian Consumer Prices”, Ensayos sobre Política Económica, Vol. 28, No. 63, pp. 100-152.
Kawaguchi, Daiji and Ohtake, Fumio (2008). “Testing the Morale Theory of Nominal Wage Rigidity”, Industrial & Labor Relations Review, Vol. 61, No. 1, Article 3.
Marques, Carlos Robalo; Martins, Fernando and Portugal, Pedro (2010). “Price and Wage Formation in Portugal”, European Central Bank, Working Paper Series # 1225.
Misas, Martha; López, Enrique and Parra, Juan Carlos (2009). “La formación de precios en las empresas colombianas: evidencia a partir de una encuesta directa”, Borradores de Economía, # 569, Banco de la República.
Misas, Martha and Oliveros, Hugo (1994). “La relación entre salarios y precios en Colombia: Un análisis econométrico”, Borradores de Economía, # 7, Banco de la República.
Parra, Juan Carlos; Misas, Martha and López, Enrique (2010). “Heterogeneidad en la fijación de precios en Colombia: Análisis de sus determinantes a partir de modelos de conteo”, Borradores de Economía, # 628, Banco de la República.
Olivei, Giovanni and Tenreyro, Silvana (2010). “Wage Setting Patterns and Monetary Policy: International Evidence”, Journal of Monetary Economics, Vol. 57, No. 7, pp. 785-802.
Rotemberg, Julio and Woodford, Michael (1999). “The Cyclical Behavior of Prices and Costs”. In: Taylor, John and Woodford, Michael (Eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics (Vol. 1, Part 2, 1051-1135). Elsevier.
Taylor, John (1999) “Staggered Price and Wage Setting in Macroeconomics”. In: Taylor, John and Woodford, Michael (Eds.), Handbook of Macroeconomics (Vol. 1, Part 2, 1009- 1050).Elsevier.
Virbickas, Ernestas (2010). “Wage and Price Setting Behavior of Lithuanian Firms”, European Central Bank, Working Paper Series, # 1198.
Wage Dynamics Network (2009). “Wage Dynamics in Europe: Final Report of the Wage Dynamics Network (WDN)”, December. Available at: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/home/pdf/wdn_finalreport_dec2009.pdf (February 9, 2010).
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This page, by Universidad de Antioquia, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, with the article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License allowing others to share it as long as they acknowledge its authorship and original publication in this journal.
Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), provided that these arrangements be not for profit and the journal be acknowledged as the original source of publication.
Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their papers online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their websites), as it can lead to valuable exchanges as well as greater citation of the published work.