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Non-Wage Labour Costs and Productivity Shifts in an Efficiency-Wage-Hours Model

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 August 2016

Jan Beyer Schmidt-Sørensen
Jan Beyer Schmidt-Sørensen*
Affiliation:
Aarhus School of Business
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Summary

The efficiency-wage-hours model allows for efficiency effects from both wages and working hours. It is shown that it is essential for static-comparative results to distinguish between working hours per worker and the number of workers in an efficiency-wage-hours model contrary to the basic efficiency-wage model. The wage rate and working hours increase with increasing non-wage labour costs while the employment level decreases. This yields the possibility to influence these variables by means of government action. There does not only exist an efficiency wage but also an efficiency working time. Both are invariant with respect to changes in productivity.

Résumé

Résumé

Le modèle de salaire et durée d'efficience étudie l'impact du salaire et de la durée du travail sur l'efficience. On montre qu'il est déterminant pour les résultats de statique comparative de distinguer entre les heures de travail par individu et le nombre de travailleurs, ce qui n'est pas possible dans le modèle traditionnel de salaire d'efficience. Le taux de salaire et la durée du travail augmentent lorsque les coût non salariaux du travail augmentent, tandis que le niveau de l'emploi diminue. En conséquence le gouvernement a la possibilité d'influer sur ces variables. Il n'y a donc pas seulement un salaire efficient mais une durée efficiente du travail, tous deux insensibles aux variations de la productivité.

Keywords

821821
Type
Research Article
Information
Recherches Économiques de Louvain/ Louvain Economic Review , Volume 57 , Issue 2 , 1991 , pp. 205 - 211
Copyright
Copyright © Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de recherches économiques et sociales 1991 

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Footnotes

(*)

This paper constitutes a part of my Ph.D dissertation. I am grateful to two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions. I also thank T. M. Andersen and P. J. Pedersen for their comments.

References

REFERENCES

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