The Business Cycle with Nominal Contracts and Search Frictions

Macroeconomic models of the economy with rigid wage structures tend to predict unrealistically volatile labor hours and countercyclical productivity. This study extends the Cho--Cooley model by incorporating labor market frictions and efficient bargaining as an alternative contracting scheme in which contracts are forward looking and specify labor hours and wage rates. By accounting for search frictions and realistic contractual schemes, the extended model overcomes two counterfactual predictions: (1) excess volatility of employment and output and (2) countercyclical productivity.