از انعطاف پذیری دستمزدها تا استحکام موسسه بازار کار : نقطه عطف در توضیح بیکاری

In this paper we offer a critical discussion about the concept of labour market rigidity in the light of recent theoretical approaches that have aimed to provide sound micro-foundations to the presence of unemployment in market economies. We point out that the concept of labour market rigidity usually referred to in such theories has changed over time, involving in succession the rigidity of wages, contracts and labour market institutions. We also appraise the factors that lead labour market institutions rigidity, stressed by the search literature, to challenge the more widespread explanation of unemployment grounded on wage rigidity. Moreover, we analyse some theoretical and empirical issues that cast doubt on the ability to deal with unemployment, disentangling the role of institutional rigidities from that of wage stickiness.

The macroeconomic role of the labour market has always been at the very centre of discussions about unemployment. In such discussions, the concept of labour market flexibility or rigidity has often played a prominent role: according to a dominant perspective (too often accepted uncritically), stronger rigidities are associated with higher unemployment and vice versa. However, as argued by Pissarides (1997) and Solow (1998), in some theoretical frameworks “labour market rigidity/flexibility” is not defined very precisely or directly and, what is more, in the economic literature this concept has changed, sometimes even remarkably, over time.

The aim of this paper was twofold. Firstly, it surveyed and critically discussed partial changes in the key concept of labour market rigidity/flexibility (flexibility of real wages, of labour contracts and labour market institutions), particularly in relation to recent theories that aim to provide sound micro-foundations to the presence of unemployment in market economies. Secondly, it critically assessed the factors that lead to labour market institution rigidities, stressed by the search framework, to challenge the New Keynesian approach of wage stickiness in the common-sense explanation of unemployment. Furthermore, we also discussed recent contributions which point out that, in order to fully understand and deal with unemployment, it is misguided not to take into account the interaction between labour market institution rigidity, on the one hand, and (real) wage stickiness, on the other.