This paper develops and tests a new set of stochastic implications of optimal consumption behavior in the presence of borrowing constraints. In a departure from previous models, the theory shows that liquidity constraints imply a distinctive intertemporal relationship between durable and...

This paper examines the short-run dynamics of manufacturing costs by detailing how plants in the U.S. automobile industry change output. Weekly data show a variety of margins on which firms adjust production. These margins, which are distinct from the usual factor demand choices, differ in their...

This paper investigates the link between the trend in the returns to education and foreign competition in concentrated industries. The authors argue that the impact of foreign competition on the relative wages of less skilled workers depends on the market structure of the industry penetrated....

This paper presents a theory of inventory investment by stage-of-processing, and uses it to examine the role of inventory investment in economic fluctuations. The model, in which inventories are treated as factors of production, is estimated for four durable goods industries. Three conclusions...

This paper explores one possible explanation for the apparent excess volatility of production relative to sales: nonconvexities in the technology facing firms. It is shown that if firms operated in a region of declining marginal costs, then small shifts in demand can cause production to jump...

This paper presents empirical evidence against the standard dichotomy in macroeconomics that separates growth from the volatility of economic fluctuations. In a sample of ninety-two countries as well as a sample of OECD countries, the authors find that countries with higher volatility have lower...

Using general to simple methods, J. M. Boughton (1993) develops an econometric model that fits almost as well as Y. Baba, D. F. Hendry, and R. M. Starr (BHS) (1992) but differs in economic implications and dynamic adjustments. He claims the new model is constant, is not encompassed by BHS, but...