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Microfoundations and macro implications of indivisible labor

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Casey B. Mulligan

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Abstract

I show that the “indivisible labor” models of Diamond and Mirrlees (1978, 1986), Hansen (1985), Rogerson (1988), Christiano and Eichenbaum (1992) and many others are, when aggregated across persons with the same marginal utility of income, equivalent to the divisible labor model of Lucas and Rapping (1969); any data on aggregate hours and earnings generated by the divisible (indivisible) model can be generated by some parameterization of the indivisible (divisible) model. The same is true when “macro” data are obtained by aggregating over time and across people. This equivalence means that the indivisibility of labor per se does not have implications for macroeconomics. Nor does indivisibility have “aggregate” normative implications.

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Paper provided by Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in its series Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics with number 126.

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Date of creation: 1998
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Handle: RePEc:fip:fedmem:126

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Keywords: Hours of labor ; Labor supply;

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  24. Hoynes, Hilary Williamson, 1996. "Welfare Transfers in Two-Parent Families: Labor Supply and Welfare Participation under AFDC-UP," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 64(2), pages 295-332, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  26. Rogerson, Richard, 1988. "Indivisible labor, lotteries and equilibrium," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 3-16, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Casey B. Mulligan, 2001. "Aggregate Implications of Indivisible Labor," NBER Working Papers 8159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Casey B. Mulligan, 2000. "Can Monopoly Unionism Explain Publicly Induced Retirement?," NBER Working Papers 7680, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  3. Antonio García Sánchez & María del Mar Vázquez Méndez, 2005. "The timing of work in a general equilibrium model with shiftwork," Investigaciones Economicas, Fundación SEPI, vol. 29(1), pages 149-179, January. [Downloadable!]
  4. Peter Kuhn & Fernando Lozano, 2006. "The Expanding Workweek? Understanding Trends in Long Work Hours Among U.S. Men, 1979-2004," IZA Discussion Papers 1924, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
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  5. Basu, Parantap & Marsiliani, Laura & Renström, Thomas I, 2004. "Optimal Dynamic Taxation with Indivisible Labour," CEPR Discussion Papers 4190, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Thomas Renstrom & Parantap Basu, 2004. "Optimal dynamic taxation with indivisible labor," Money Macro and Finance (MMF) Research Group Conference 2003 78, Money Macro and Finance Research Group. [Downloadable!]
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  7. Basu, Parantap & Renström, Thomas I, 2002. "When to Tax Labour?," CEPR Discussion Papers 3456, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. John C. Ham & Kevin T. Reilly, 2002. "Testing Intertemporal Substitution, Implicit Contracts, and Hours Restriction Models of the Labor Market Using Micro Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 92(4), pages 905-927, September. [Downloadable!]
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