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A Mechanism of Cyclical Volatility in the Vacancy-Unemployment Ratio: What Is the Source of Rigidity?

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  • Harashima, Taiji

Abstract

The conventional search and matching model has been criticized for its inability to explain large cyclical volatility in the vacancy-unemployment ratio without ad hoc assumptions of wage rigidity. This paper presents a mechanism of such volatility without assuming wage rigidity by showing that households can rationally select a Nash equilibrium consisting of strategies of choosing a Pareto inefficient transition path. This type of path is generated after a time preference shock and causes a persistently large amount of extra unutilized resources. The labor market is thereby distorted and becomes more cyclically volatile. Vacancy costs are particularly affected by this Nash equilibrium. Because this Pareto inefficient path proceeds “rigidly,” that is, the Pareto inefficiency diminishes gradually, an ingredient of rigidity is introduced into the economy, and the vacancy-unemployment ratio experiences large cyclical fluctuations.

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  • Harashima, Taiji, 2011. "A Mechanism of Cyclical Volatility in the Vacancy-Unemployment Ratio: What Is the Source of Rigidity?," MPRA Paper 32476, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:32476
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Vacancy; Unemployment; Rigidity; Pareto efficiency; Nash equilibrium; Business cycles; Time preference;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D50 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - General
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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