If nominal wages cannot fall, then positive inflation may facilitate real wage adjustment. We examine data on individuals' wage changes and find only limited evidence of such downward nominal rigidity. The shape of the distribution of wage changes is little affected by the rate of inflation....

This paper investigates seasonality in U.S. payroll employment using a multivariate, unobserved components model. The model allows for interaction between seasonality in industry-level employment and a quot;common cyclequot; that captures the comovement in the disaggregated data. The common...

This paper provides the first application of the compensating differential paradigm to the evaluation of the extent and sources of evolution in state quality-of-life. The compensating differentials approach derives from early work by Rosen (1979) and Roback (1982), who showed how to extract...

Minimum wages increase the probability that teenagers leave school to become employed or work more hours, and increase the probability that they leave school and become non-enrolled and non-employed. Minimum wages also increase the probability that lower-wage employed teenagers become...

This cross-country study provides empirical evidence on the influence of house prices on the aggregate consumption and saving behaviour of households. Housing wealth constitutes a significant portion of total wealth for households, suggesting that their expenditure patterns are likely to reflect...

This paper discusses developments in energy consumption and oil markets since the early 1970s, highlighting the fall in energy and oil consumption per unit of output and the accompanying reduction in industrialised countries' exposure and vulnerability to energy shocks. In an attempt to analyse...

This paper provides the first application of the compensating differential paradigm to the evaluation of the extent and sources of evolution in quality-of-life among U.S. states. In addition to providing estimates of quality-of-life rankings for U.S. states over the 1981-1990 period, we use...