Wage Indexation and Time-Consistent Monetary Policy
Working Paper 2948
DOI 10.3386/w2948
Issue Date
This paper investigates the effects of wage indexation on the time-consistent level of inflation. Departing from previous work on time-consistent policy, we study a structural model of the economy. Indexation reduces the cost of inflation, which is inflationary, and steepens the Phillips curve, which is anti-inflationary. In most cases, the net effect is to raise inflation but also to raise welfare: the loss from higher inflation is outweighed by the gain from greater protection against inflation.
Published Versions
"Wage Indexation and Discretionary Monetary Policy," American Economic Review, December 1991, pp. 1310-1319