Labor Productivity: Structural Change and Cyclical Dynamics / Martin Neil Baily, Eric J. Bartelsman, John Haltiwanger.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Baily, Martin Neil.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Bartelsman, Eric J.

Haltiwanger, John.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w5503.

NBER working paper series no. w5503

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Labor economics.

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Labor Productivity

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1996.

Cambridge, Mass. : National Bureau of Economic Research, 1996.

Summary:

A longstanding puzzle of empirical economics is that average labor productivity declines during recessions and increases during booms. This paper provides a framework to assess the empirical importance of competing hypotheses for explaining the observed procyclicality. For each competing hypothesis we derive the implications for cyclical productivity conditional on expectations of future demand and supply conditions. The novelty of the paper is that we exploit the tremendous heterogeneity in long-run structural changes across individual plants to identify the short-run sources of procyclical productivity. Our findings favor an adjustment cost model which involves a productivity penalty for downsizing as the largest source of procyclical labor productivity.

Notes:

Print version record

March 1996.