I document new facts about the relationship between flexible wages and firm performance using a unique matched employer-employee database from Hungary. Firms providing flexible wage contracts are larger, more productive, and they have less volatile revenue. Though these firms adjust total wage compensation more to revenue shocks, there are no differences in their employment responses compared to firms without flexible wages. These findings hold during the Great Recession after 2008, and corroborated by instrumenting revenue. These results suggest that flexible wages do not save jobs, and can be explained by incorporating incentive contracting into a wage posting model.
Challenging Science and Innovation Policy Utrecht, 1-3 June 2022, hosted by Copernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Utrecht University The “European Forum for Studies ... Read More »
Published in ‘Does EU Membership Facilitate Convergence? The Expierience of the EU’s Eastern Enlargement – Volume II’ Edited by Landesmann, Michael, Székely, Istvan P. ... Read More »