Estimating a wage curve for Britain 1973-90

Citation

Blanchflower D & Oswald AJ (1994) Estimating a wage curve for Britain 1973-90. Economic Journal, 104 (426), pp. 1025-1043. https://doi.org/10.2307/2235062

Abstract
Following Phillips's original work on the UK, applied research on unemployment and wages has been dominated by the analysis of highly aggregated time-series data sets. However, it has proved difficult with such methods to uncover statistically reliable models. This paper adopts a different approach. It uses microeconomic data on 175 000 British workers from 1973 to 1990 to provide evidence for the existence of a negatively sloped relationship linking the level of pay to the local rate of unemployment. The paper casts doubt on standard ideas in macroeconomics, regional economics and labour economics.

Keywords
methodological development; modelling approach; unemployment; wage curve

Journal
Economic Journal: Volume 104, Issue 426