The Vanishing Procyclicality of Labor Productivity

49 Pages Posted: 2 Jun 2014

See all articles by Jordi Galí

Jordi Galí

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Thijs van Rens

University of Warwick - Department of Economics; CEPR; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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Date Written: March 2014

Abstract

We document three changes in postwar US macroeconomic dynamics: (i) the procyclicality of labor productivity vanished, (ii) the relative volatility of employment rose, and (iii) the relative (and absolute) volatility of the real wage rose. We propose an explanation for all three changes that is based on a common source: the decline in labor market turnover, which reduced hiring frictions. We develop a simple model with hiring frictions, variable effort, and endogenous wage rigidities to illustrate the mechanisms underlying our explanation. We show that the decline in turnover may also have contributed to the observed decline in output volatility.

Keywords: effort choice, hiring frictions, labor hoarding, labor market turnover, wage rigidities

JEL Classification: E24, E32

Suggested Citation

Gali, Jordi and van Rens, Thijs, The Vanishing Procyclicality of Labor Productivity (March 2014). CEPR Discussion Paper No. DP9853, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2444874

Jordi Gali (Contact Author)

Universitat Pompeu Fabra - Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI) ( email )

Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
Barcelona, 08005
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HOME PAGE: http://www.econ.upf.es/~gali

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics ( email )

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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United Kingdom

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Thijs Van Rens

University of Warwick - Department of Economics ( email )

Coventry CV4 7AL
United Kingdom

HOME PAGE: http://www.thijsvanrens.com

Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) ( email )

P.O. Box 7240
Bonn, D-53072
Germany

HOME PAGE: http://www.iza.org/profile?key=3806

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