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Unemployment Crises

Author

Listed:
  • Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas

    (Carnegie Mellon University and Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco)

  • Zhang, Lu

    (OH State University)

Abstract

A search and matching model, when calibrated to the mean and volatility of unemployment in the postwar sample, can potentially explain the unemployment crisis in the Great Depression. The limited responses of wages from credible bargaining to labor market conditions, along with the congestion externality from matching frictions, cause the unemployment rate to rise sharply in recessions but decline gradually in booms. The frequency, severity, and persistence of unemployment crises in the model are quantitatively consistent with U.S. historical time series. The welfare gain from eliminating business cycle fluctuations is large.

Suggested Citation

  • Petrosky-Nadeau, Nicolas & Zhang, Lu, 2013. "Unemployment Crises," Working Paper Series 2014-11, Ohio State University, Charles A. Dice Center for Research in Financial Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:ecl:ohidic:2014-11
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    File URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2241695
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Zvi Eckstein & Ofer Setty & David Weiss, 2019. "Financial Risk And Unemployment," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 60(2), pages 475-516, May.
    2. Kohlbrecher, Britta & Merkl, Christian, 2022. "Business cycle asymmetries and the labor market," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Merkl, Christian & Stüber, Heiko, 2024. "Wage and employment cyclicalities at the establishment level," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    4. Kandoussi, Malak & Langot, François, 2025. "Modeling and evaluating the heterogeneous impacts of the COVID-19 on US unemployment," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    5. Gabrovski, Miroslav & Geromichalos, Athanasios & Herrenbrueck, Lucas & Kospentaris, Ioannis & Lee, Sukjoon, 2025. "The real effects of financial disruptions in a monetary economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    6. Eleni Iliopulos & François Langot & Thepthida Sopraseuth, 2019. "Welfare Cost of Fluctuations When Labor Market Search Interacts with Financial Frictions," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 51(8), pages 2207-2237, December.
    7. Acedański, Jan, 2016. "Youth unemployment and welfare gains from eliminating business cycles — The case of Poland," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 248-262.
    8. Antoine Lepetit, 2020. "Asymmetric Unemployment Fluctuations and Monetary Policy Trade-Offs," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 29-45, April.
    9. Bai, Hang & Zhang, Lu, 2022. "Searching for the equity premium," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(2), pages 897-926.
    10. Nicolas Petrosky-Nadeau & Lu Zhang, 2013. "Solving the DMP Model Accurately," NBER Working Papers 19208, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Carlos Carrillo-Tudela & Ludo Visschers & David Wiczer, 2022. "Cyclical Earnings, Career and Employment Transitions," CESifo Working Paper Series 9990, CESifo.
    12. Domenico Ferraro, 2018. "The Asymmetric Cyclical Behavior of the U.S. Labor Market," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 30, pages 145-162, October.
    13. Hall, R.E., 2016. "Macroeconomics of Persistent Slumps," Handbook of Macroeconomics, in: J. B. Taylor & Harald Uhlig (ed.), Handbook of Macroeconomics, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 2131-2181, Elsevier.
    14. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1787nsa6d1927a90u4bkkombn4 is not listed on IDEAS
    15. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/1787nsa6d1927a90u4bkkombn4 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Sargent, Kristina, 2024. "Unpacking migration costs: Heterogeneous effects in EU labor markets," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    17. Kothari, Pratik & O’Doherty, Michael S., 2023. "Job postings and aggregate stock returns," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 64(C).
    18. Matthew Knowles & Mario Lupoli, 2023. "The Nash Wage Elasticity and its Business Cycle Implications," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 240, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • J63 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Turnover; Vacancies; Layoffs
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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