This study is an enquiry into the determining factors and main features of the behaviour of wage earnings in the manufacturing sector of Italy during the period 1966-1972. The thesis traces and critically assesses the development of the Phillips curve determination process for the Italian economy. However, our basic concern is with relative wage earnings and a particular question on which the study focuses is: what difference, if any, exists in the determination of relative wage earnings between high and low earnings sectors. The main empirical analysis of this study is based on multiple regression using quarterly time series data for the period 1966 1st quarter through 1971 4th quarter. The results show that high earnings industries, unlike low earnings industries, by paying a wage premium have some discretion in the timing and amount of wage changes and this discretionary wage policy seemed to be rather acyclical. Thus, the conclusion is that assumptions to the effect that relative earnings behaviour is uniform throughout the economy or that the relative earnings behaviour of a given industry is. representative of the manufacturing sector at large are not tenable. A further object of this study is to examine some of the statistical problems (simultaneity, aggregation bias) that occur in the estimation of wage functions. Consideration is also given to the cyclical variation of the earnings structure with particular attention to the "hot autumn" of 1969, a major turning point in Italian twentieth century history. More specifically, we found that the initial effect of the new contracts struck immediately after that period was to widen earnings differentials between high and low earnings industries. The study concludes with evidence on the predictive performance of our regressions. The estimated Theil inequality coefficients reveal the ability of our equations to predict well in most cases.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:649734 |
| Date | January 1976 |
| Creators | Droucopoulos, V. |
| Publisher | University of Edinburgh |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://hdl.handle.net/1842/17163 |
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