Research

Overview

Primary fields: macroeconomics, labor economics

Areas of interest: macroeconomic policy, productivity, inequality, computational methods


Working Papers

Abstract. This paper studies the role of uncertainty in a search-and-matching framework with risk-averse households. A mean-preserving spread to future productivity contracts current economic activity even in the absence of nominal rigidities, although the effect is reinforced by the presence of the latter. That is, uncertainty shocks carry both contractionary demand- and supply effects. The reason is that a more uncertain future increases the precautionary behavior of households, which reduces interest rates and contracts demand. At the same time, as future asset prices becomes more volatile and positively covary with aggregate consumption, households demand a larger risk premium, which puts negative pressure on current asset values and thereby contracts supply. Thus, in comparison to a pure negative demand shock, an uncertainty shock puts less deflationary pressure on the economy and, as a result, renders a flatter Phillips curve.
Abstract. This paper analyzes in detail the role of uncertainty shocks in search and matching models of the labor market, both when uncertainty actually increases and when it is only expected to do so. The non-linear nature of search frictions increases average unemployment rates during periods with higher volatility. However, they are by themselves not sufficient to raise the unemployment rate in response to an increase in perceived uncertainty. We show that key to understanding the result of Leduc and Liu (2016) that perceived uncertainty does affect the unemployment rate is the particular form of wage bargaining chosen, Nash bargaining; option value considerations play no role.
Abstract. This paper develops a tractable capitalist-worker New Keynesian model to study the interaction of fiscal policy and household heterogeneity. Workers can save in bonds subject to portfolio adjustment costs; firm ownership is concentrated among capitalists who do not supply labor. The model matches empirical intertemporal marginal propensities to consume that shape the private sector’s dynamic response to policy interventions, it avoids implausible profit income effects on labor supply, and the solution has robust stability properties. This setup delivers both more pronounced redistributive and more muted aggregate effects of fiscal stimulus relative to the traditional two-agent model.


Work in Progress

Job Market Paper

  • ...should hopefully appear here in late 2021 or 2022 ;)


Discussions

"Household Portfolio Choices and Nonlinear Income Risk," by J. Galvez


Done & Dusted

Working for Workers? The Effect of Government Spending Shocks on the Labour Share of Income