Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/21499 
Year of Publication: 
2002
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 458
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
The purpose of this paper is to develop a model that integrates inventory and labor decisions. We extend a model of inventory behavior to include a detailed specification of the role of labor input in the production process and of the costs associated with it. In particular, we distinguish between employment, hours and effort per worker, and allow for adjustment costs associated with employment changes. We assume that the requirement function for effective hours has a general trans-logarithmic form, and derive an estimable system of Euler equations for inventories and employment with implied cross-equation restrictions. The econometric results shed light on several important topics, including the shape of the marginal cost of output and the role of labor hoarding as an explanation of procyclical productivity and the persistence of inventory stocks. Moreover, they raise questions about the adequacy of commonly used specifications such as Cobb-Douglas approximations to the production process and the definition of labor input as the product of employment and effective hours worked per worker.
Subjects: 
Inventories
employment
hours
labor adjustment costs
procyclical productivity
JEL: 
J24
J23
D24
E24
E23
J32
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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