Although oil price shocks have long been viewed as one of the leading candidates for explaining U.S. recessions, surprisingly little is known about the extent to which oil price shocks explain recessions. We provide a formal analysis of this question with special attention to the possible role...

We provide empirical evidence that a positive shock to technology drives up per capita hours worked, consumption, investment, average productivity and output. This evidence contrasts sharply with the results reported in a large and growing literature that argues, on the basis of aggregate data,...