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  4. Summer 1995
  5. An Introduction to the Wage Curve

Journal of Economic Perspectives

ISSN 0895-3309 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7965 (Online)

An Introduction to the Wage Curve

  • David G. Blanchflower
  • Andrew J. Oswald
Journal of Economic Perspectives
vol. 9, no. 3, Summer 1995
(pp. 153–167)
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Abstract

This paper documents a statistical regulatity or law. It shows that there exists a downward-sloping curve linking the level of a worker's pay to the unemployment rate in the worker's region. The same curve can be found in microeconomic data sets from sixteen countries. The existence of this curve raises doubts about conventional wisdom in labor economics, regional economics, and macroeconomics.

Citation

Blanchflower, David G., and Andrew J. Oswald. 1995. "An Introduction to the Wage Curve." Journal of Economic Perspectives, 9 (3): 153–167. DOI: 10.1257/jep.9.3.153

JEL Classification

  • J31 Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J64 Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search
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