Lucas (1987) argues that the gain from eliminating aggregate fluctuations is trivial. Following Lucas, a number of researchers have altered assumptions on preferences and found that the gain from eliminating business cycles are potentially very large. However, in these exercises little...

This paper uses micro data from the German Socio-Economic Panel to document that the wage structure in West Germany has been remarkably stable over the period 1984-97, with little variation over time in wage or earnings inequality between and within different skill groups. The paper investigates...