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Chapter 9: Problem 12

If wage rates are not flexible, can the economy be self-regulating? Explain your answer.

Short Answer

Expert verified
No, the economy typically cannot be self-regulating if wage rates are not flexible. Wage flexibility is an important factor in allowing an economy to adjust naturally to economic changes.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding wage flexibility and self-regulation

Wage flexibility refers to the ability of wages to adjust in response to changes in economic conditions, such as supply and demand for labor. A self-regulating economy is one that naturally adjusts to economic shocks, both positive and negative. This is achieved through free market mechanisms, without the need for government intervention.
02

Evaluating the Role of Wage Flexibility in a Self-Regulating Economy

In a self-regulating economy, wages would need to be flexible. If the economy faces an economic downfall, and the wages are inflexible (cannot decrease), industries would not be able to afford to pay the workers, leading to layoffs, increasing unemployment rates. Conversely, if the economy is booming, wages may be insufficient to attract enough workers, leading to labor shortages.
03

Conclusion: Relationship between Wage Inflexibility and Self-Regulation

Hence, if wage rates are not flexible, the economy can struggle to be self-regulating because wage rigidity can interfere with the natural adjustment mechanisms of a free market.

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Most popular questions from this chapter

Explain how an economy can operate beyond its institutional PPF but not beyond its physical PPF.

Yvonne is telling her friend Wendy that wages are rising and so is the unemployment rate. She tells Wendy that she (Yvonne) may be the next person to be fired at her company and that she may have to move back in with her parents. What does the economy have to do with Yvonne's possibly having to move back in with her parents?

According to classical economists, does an increase in saving shift the \(A D\) curve to the left? Explain your answer.

What does it mean to say that the economy is in a recessionary gap? In an inflationary gap? In long-run equilibrium?

Diagrammatically represent an economy in (a) an inflationary gap, (b) a recessionary gap, and (c) long-run equilibrium.
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