We investigate the wage-setting behavior of French companies using an ad-hoc survey specifically conducted for this study. Our main results are the following. i) Wages are changed infrequently. 75% of firms change their wages once a year. Wage changes occur at regular intervals during the year and are concentrated in January and July. ii) We find a lower degree of downward real wage rigidity and nominal wage rigidity in France compared to the European average. iii) About one third of companies have an internal policy to grant wage increases according to inflation. iv) When companies are faced with adverse shocks, the latter are partially transmitted into prices. Companies also adopt cost-cutting strategies. The wage of newly hired employees plays an important role in this adjustment.
In this paper I present the historical, theoretical and empirical background of DSGE models. I show that the fundament of these models lies in optimizing agents framework and argue which impulses fueled the development of DSGE models. I demonstrate the evolution of DSGE models with an accent on the role and effects of the monetary policy, using distinction between RBC models and New Keynesian models. I explain the paradigm shift from the RBC models to the New Keynesian models by pointing out the main pitfalls of the RBC models and showing how adding nominal rigidities to the otherwise standard RBC models enhances empirical properties of these models. I also discuss how nominal rigidities are modeled in New Keynesian DSGE models and what the pros and cons of different approaches are. Finally, I review the most important New Keynesian theories of nominal rigidities and some of the empirical evidence on price and wage rigidities
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.