Technology, Employment, and the Business Cycle: Do Technology Shocks Explain Aggregate Fluctuations?
American Economic Review
vol. 89,
no. 1, March 1999
(pp. 249-271)
Abstract
The author estimate a decomposition of productivity and hours into technology and nontechnology components. Two results stand out: (1) the estimated conditional correlations of hours and productivity are negative for technology shocks, positive for nontechnology shocks; and (2) hours show a persistent decline in response to a positive technology shock. Most of the results hold for a variety of model specifications and for the majority of G7 countries. The picture that emerges is hard to reconcile with a conventional real-business-cycle interpretation of business cycles but is shown to be consistent with a simple model with monopolistic competition and sticky prices.Citation
Galí, Jordi. 1999. "Technology, Employment, and the Business Cycle: Do Technology Shocks Explain Aggregate Fluctuations?" American Economic Review, 89 (1): 249-271. DOI: 10.1257/aer.89.1.249JEL Classification
- E32 Business Fluctuations; Cycles
- O33 Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes