This paper examines how durable goods and financial frictions shape the business cycle of a small open economy subject to shocks to trend and transitory shocks. In the data, nondurable consumption is not as volatile as income for both developed and emerging market economies. The simulation of...

Government support to banks through the provision of explicit or implicit guarantees affects the willingness of banks to take on risk by reducing market discipline or by increasing charter value. We use an international sample of bank data and government support to banks for the periods...

Recently, Pissarides (2008) has argued that the standard search model with sunk fixed matching costs increases unemployment volatility without introducing an unrealistic wage response in new matches. We revise the role of matching costs and show that when these costs are not sunk and, therefore,...

Recently, Pissarides (2008) has argued that the standard search model with sunk fixed matching costs increases unemployment volatility without introducing an unrealistic wage response in new matches. We revise the role of matching costs and show that when these costs are not sunk and, therefore,...

This paper studies the intergenerational persistence of work hours. In particular, I look at the correlation of hours between fathers and sons in the U.S. Using data from the Panel study of Income Dynamics, I find a strong persistence in the permanent component of hours worked. I investigate the...

This paper studies the role of investment-specific shocks as an amplification mechanism of labor market fluctuations. We first show evidence suggesting that after a fall in the relative price of new equipment, not only do investment and output increase but firms also post more vacancies, hours...

We study whether segmented labor markets with flexibility at the margin (e.g., just affecting fixed-term employees) can achieve similar volatility than fully deregulated labor markets. Flexibility at the margin produces a gap in separation costs among matched workers that cause fixed-term...