Assignment:
1. What has happened to real wages and to labor productivity since 1948?
a. Looking only at the period 1948-70, was rising productivity associated with rising real wages? Would you reach the same conclusion if you looked only at the period since 1970?
b. Why might we expect wages and productivity to move together? Give an explanation from neoclassical and efficiency wage perspectives.
Do you think either approach is supported by data?
|
|
1948-75
|
1976-2018
|
|
productivity
|
0.02686
|
0.017857
|
|
real wages
|
0.02067
|
-0.00101
|
2. Productivity growth has also slowed in the United States since the mid-1970s.
a. Some have argued that an exogenous slowdown in productivity growth explains declining wage growth. Would you agree? Disagree?
b. Read Arthur MacEwen, "unions and economic inequality" Real-World Micro. How would he explain stagnant wage growth? Do you agree?
Attachment:- Efficiency Wages.rar