This paper presents a state-dependent pricing model with a two-stage chain-of-production structure and serially correlated, idiosyncratic price adjustment cost process in each sector. The model can explain much of the observed volatility and persistence of inflation and output, and nonlinearity...

We find that the sunk entry cost estimated in a model with the necessary convex factor adjustment costs are about 50 percent smaller than they are in a model without other costs of adjustment.

The share of middle-skill jobs in the United States has fallen sharply in the wake of advancing technology, the rise in outsourcing jobs overseas, and contractions in manufacturing. This shift of employment toward high- and low-skill jobs, known as "job polarization," is not well understood ;...

This paper studies the aggregate implications of micro-level labor adjustment costs. Caballero and Engel (1993) find a dependence of aggregate employment growth on the cross sectional distribution of "employment gaps." This paper uses those results as moments in an indirect inference procedure...

We study labor adjustment costs. We specify a dynamic optimization problem at the plant-level, allowing for both convex and non-convex adjustment costs. We estimate the parameters of the adjustment process using an indirect inference procedure in which simulated moments are matched with data...

This paper studies capital adjustment at the establishment level. Our goal is to characterize capital adjustment costs, which are important for understanding both the dynamics of aggregate investment and the impact of various policies on capital accumulation. Our estimation strategy searches for...

This paper examines price adjustment behavior in the magazine industry. In a frequently cited study, Cecchetti (1986) constructs a reduced-form (S,s) model for firms. Cecchetti assumes that a firm's pricing rules are fixed for non-overlapping three-year intervals and estimates the model using a...

A large literature seeks to provide microfoundations of price setting for macro models. A challenge has been to develop a model in which monetary policy shocks have the highly persistent effects on real variables estimated by many studies. Nominal price stickiness has proved helpful but not...

This paper provides an evaluation of the effectiveness of inflation targeting in four industrial countries --New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Sweden --focussing on the recent period of economic recovery. Evidence drawn from fmancial market data suggests that credibility of their...