Strategic Monetary Policy with Non-Atomistic Wage Setters

Abstract

Monetary policy analyses usually assume an atomistic private sector, thereby ignoring potential interactions between policy and wage-setting decisions. Yet, non-atomistic wage setters are a key feature of several industrialized economies. We study the economic consequence of non-atomistic agents and show that this qualifies previous results on the effects and desirability of a conservative central banker. In particular, the central bank aversion to inflation may have a permanent effect on structural employment, while no such effect emerges with atomistic agents.

Keywords: conservatism, non-atomistic agents, wage-setting

JEL Classification: E5, J5