European labour markets display large variations in unemployment rates across regions as well as between education groups. Insufficient labour force mobility is widely considered the main culprit behind regional unemployment disparities, but few studies have examined the link between...

A detailed analysis is provided of the shape of the wage curve using annual time series for Norwegian manufacturing. The main results are summarized as follows. Unemployment affects wages significantly, and we provide evidence in favour of a monotonically decreasing but highly non-linear wage...

Using panel data for 117 Norwegian industries from 1966 to 1987, the author shows that industry wages are significantly affected by industry performance. Insider effects are more important in expanding industries as compared to declining ones and most responsive to insider variables in good...

The paper presents an efficiency wage model where worker effort depends on own wages relative both to wages of other workers in the firm and to similar workers in other firms. First, we show how the Solow conditions are modified if internal comparison effects are at work. Second, we discuss the...

The paper presents empirical evidence on wage formation in Norway using annual time series data for manufacturing industry. First, we show that long-run effects of consumer prices and taxes depend strongly on the exact definition of the empirical variables. Using the implicit factor income...