The following is from the New York Times, by Leonhardt.

"Jobs are disappearing, bonuses are shrinking and raises will be hard to come by. But the drop in prices, which isn't over yet, will make life easier on millions of people. It's possible, in fact, that the current recession will do less harm to the typical family's income than it does to many other parts of the economy. The reason is something called the sticky-wage theory. Economists have long been puzzled by the fact that most businesses simply will not cut their workers'pay, even in a downturn. Businesses routinely lay off 10 percent of their workers to cut costs. They almost never cut pay by 10 percent across the board."

Sticky wages and prices are believed to occur_____.