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Can adjustment costs explain the variability and counter-cyclicality of the labour share at the firm and aggregate level?

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  • Vermeulen, Philip

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 counter-cyclicality 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. JEL Classification: D21, E25

Suggested Citation

  • Vermeulen, Philip, 2007. "Can adjustment costs explain the variability and counter-cyclicality of the labour share at the firm and aggregate level?," Working Paper Series 772, European Central Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:2007772
    Note: 327651
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    File URL: https://www.ecb.europa.eu//pub/pdf/scpwps/ecbwp772.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. John Hutchinson & Damiaan Persyn, 2012. "Globalisation, concentration and footloose firms: in search of the main cause of the declining labour share," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 148(1), pages 17-43, April.
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    3. Mahlstedt, Robert & Weber, Rüdiger, 2020. "Risk Sharing Within and Outside the Firm: The Disparate Effects of Wrongful Discharge Laws on Expected Stock Returns," IZA Discussion Papers 13941, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Mr. Alberto Behar, 2015. "Comparing the Employment-Output Elasticities of Expatriates and Nationals in the Gulf Cooperation Council," IMF Working Papers 2015/191, International Monetary Fund.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    diring costs; labor adjustment costs; labour share; real business cycles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D21 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Firm Behavior: Theory
    • E25 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Aggregate Factor Income Distribution

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