Hudson, John (1979) Wage inflation in the U.K: 1951-1975, a switching regimes model. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This thesis has been primarily concerned with explaining why excess demand based theories appear to provide a satisfactory explanation of inflation prior to 1969, but appear to break down after that date. This explanation took the form of a synthesis between such theories and wage bargaining ones.
Each of these theories emphasise aspects of the inflationary process which the other ignores. Excess demand based theories emphasise the role of the employer, but ignore that of the trade union, whilst wage bargaining theories do the opposite.
Thus the employer will seek to pay a wage, which we call the competi­tive wage, based on the ease with which labour can be attracted and retained. The more difficulties he is experiencing, the higher the competi­tive wage will be. The wage the trade union leader seeks to negotiate will be that which satisfies some mimimum proportion of his membership. It is this which we call the union leader's target wage.
If, in the wage negotiations, the competitive wage exceeds the target wage, then this is the wage that will be"negotiated". This is, we argue, in fact the situation which existed prior to 1969, and this is why excess demand based theories appeared to be satisfactory in this period. If, however, this is not the case, then we are in a more genuine bargaining situation, which is what we argue has happenned several times since 1969.
In developing this theory several subsidiary themes emerge, e.g., the importance of profits within an excess demand framework, the problem of perception with respect to expectations, the specification of the error term in the wage equation and the link between the worker's aspiration wage and permanent income. We also examine the search process, the degree of certainty with which expectations are held and the relationship between union leaders and their membership.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Inflation (Finance) -- Great Britain -- Mathematical models, Wages -- Great Britain -- Mathematical models
Official Date:	September 1979
Dates:	Date Event September 1979 Submitted
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Department of Economics
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Knight, Ben, Williamson, John, 1937-
Extent:	iv, 319 leaves
Language:	eng

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