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The Cost of Recessions Revisited: A Reverse-Liquidationist View

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  • Caballero, Ricardo
  • Hammour, Mohamad

Abstract

The observation that liquidations are concentrated in recessions has long been the subject of controversy. One view holds that liquidations are beneficial in that they result in increased restructuring. Another view holds that liquidations are privately inefficient and essentially wasteful. This paper proposes an alternative perspective. Based on a combination of theory with empirical evidence on gross job flows and on financial and labour market rents, we find that, cumulatively, recessions result in reduced restructuring, and that this is likely to be socially costly once we consider inefficiencies on both the creation and destruction margins.

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  • Caballero, Ricardo & Hammour, Mohamad, 1999. "The Cost of Recessions Revisited: A Reverse-Liquidationist View," CEPR Discussion Papers 2331, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:2331
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Creative Destruction; Financial constraints; job flows; Liquidations; Recessions; Rents; Restructuring; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E20 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • G30 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance - - - General

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