Indexation, national consent, and collective bargaining agreements

Indexation of financial liabilities was introduced in Iceland in face of an almost total collapse of the islands monetary system. The demise of the financial system was caused by long lasting and high episode of price inflation in the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. The article traces some of the negati...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla
Main Author: Þórólfur Matthíasson
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Icelandic
Published: University of Iceland 2013
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2013.9.2.12
https://doaj.org/article/4fecf0d5ac6945a8bc4a6a56bdc0995a
Description
Summary:Indexation of financial liabilities was introduced in Iceland in face of an almost total collapse of the islands monetary system. The demise of the financial system was caused by long lasting and high episode of price inflation in the late 1960’s and the 1970’s. The article traces some of the negative consequences of inflation for the economy. The paper also presents a theoretical setting where a simple game-theoritical model is used to explain how the invention of indexation of financial liabilities changed the landscape of collective bargaining. Before the invention of indexation the actors in the bargaining game were more likely to gain from inflation compared to a situation with stable prices. Indexation changed that slowly but steadily. Indexation has thus been an stabilizing institution in Icelandic economic live.