Wages and productivity growth in a competitive industry

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bester, H; Petrakis, E
• 署名单位: Free University of Berlin; University of Crete
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-0531(02)00037-6
• 发表日期: 2003
• 页码: 52-69
• 关键词: process innovation; Industry dynamics; wages

摘要

We describe the evolution of productivity growth in a competitive industry with free entry and exit. The exogenous wage rate determines the firms' engagement in labor productivity enhancing process innovation. There is a unique steady state of the industry dynamics, which is globally asymptotically stable. In the steady state, the number of active firms, their unit labor cost and supply depend on the growth rate but not on the level of the wage rate. In addition to providing comparative statics of the steady state, the paper characterizes the industry's adjustment path. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science (USA). All rights reserved.