Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/153206 
Year of Publication: 
2007
Series/Report no.: 
ECB Working Paper No. 772
Publisher: 
European Central Bank (ECB), Frankfurt a. M.
Abstract: 
This paper shows that adjustment costs modelled as firing costs of moderate size go a long way in explaining the variability and counter-cyclicality of the labour share at the firm and aggregate level. Firing costs cause firms to hire less in recessions and hire less in booms causing wage costs to fluctuate less cyclically than output, thus inducing variability and countercyclicality in the labour share. The paper develops a dynamic labour demand model with firing costs. The model is then calibrated using moments derived from 1634 French manufacturing firms and aggregate French manufacturing data. The calibrated model is able to closely match the variability and counter-cyclicality of the labour share at the firm level while it also generates a countercyclical aggregate labour share with a variability 60% of that in French aggregate manufacturing.
Subjects: 
Firing Costs
labor adjustment costs
labour share
real business cycles
JEL: 
D21
E25
Document Type: 
Working Paper

Files in This Item:
File
Size
792.65 kB





Items in EconStor are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.