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Understanding the gains from wage flexibility in a currency union: the fiscal policy connection

Author

Listed:
  • Eiji Okano

    (Birkbeck, University of London)

Abstract
I investigate two findings in Gali and Monacelli (2016, American Economic Review) which are (i) the effectiveness of labor cost adjustments on employment is much smaller in a currency union and (ii) an increase in wage flexibility often reduces welfare, more likely so in an economy that is part of a currency union. First, I introduce a distorted steady state in the small open economy model of GM, in which employment subsidies to make the steady state efficient are not available, and replicate their two findings. Second, I introduce an endogenous fiscal policy rule similar to the Bohn rule with a government budget constraint into the model. The results suggest that while the first finding of Gali and Monacelli is still applicable, their second finding is not necessarily applicable. It is, therefore, possible that an increase in wage flexibility reduces welfare loss in an economy that is part of a currency union as long as wage rigidity is high enough. Thus, there is still scope to discuss how wage flexibility is beneficial in a currency union.

Suggested Citation

  • Eiji Okano, 2020. "Understanding the gains from wage flexibility in a currency union: the fiscal policy connection," BCAM Working Papers 2005, Birkbeck Centre for Applied Macroeconomics.
    • Handle: RePEc:bbk:bbkcam:2005
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    File URL: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/41141/1/41141.pdf
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Sticky Wages; Nominal Rigidities; New Keynesian Models; Monetary and Fiscal Policy; Exchange Rate Policy; Currency Union; Fiscal Theory of the Price Level; Bohn Rule;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • F41 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Open Economy Macroeconomics
    • F47 - International Economics - - Macroeconomic Aspects of International Trade and Finance - - - Forecasting and Simulation: Models and Applications

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