This paper tests the ‘morale’ theory of downward nominal wage
rigidity. This theory relies on workers disliking nominal pay cuts:
cuts should make workers less happy. We investigate this using panel
data on individual employees’ pay and satisfaction. We confirm that
nominal cuts do make workers less happy than if their pay had not
fallen. But we found no difference in the effect on happiness of cuts and
pay freezes. This represents important information about the nature
of wage rigidity in practice and the applicability of the morale theory.
The morale theory may be able to explain generalised downward wage
rigidity, but apparently fails to explain downward nominal rigidity
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