Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/82551 
Year of Publication: 
2010
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2010:21
Publisher: 
Uppsala University, Department of Economics, Uppsala
Abstract: 
Employing econometric methods for univariate time series, this paper investigates the empirical validity of assuming a unit root in individuals' labor-income processes. Using a Swedish register-based longitudinal dataset which allows us to follow a cohort of workers from 1968 to 2005, we are able to obtain distributions of median unbiased estimates of local-to-unity parameters. The results indicate that earnings for the representative worker are governed by a process where shocks to earnings have fairly high persistence but are both economically and statistically significantly different from having permanent effects; that is, the largest autoregressive root is less than unity. These results add to the studies that question the heavy use of unit-root processes for earnings in calibrations of life-cycle models.
Subjects: 
Idiosyncratic income risk
Unit-root model
Earnings dynamics
Local-to-unity parameter
JEL: 
C22
C23
J31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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