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The Consumption-Tightness Puzzle

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Listed author(s):
  • Morten O. Ravn

Abstract

This paper introduces a labor force participation choice into a labor market matching model embedded in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium set-up with production and savings. The participation choice is modelled as a tradeoff between forgoing the expected benefits of being search active and engaging in costly labor market search. The model induces a symmetry in firms%u2019 and workers%u2019 search decision since both sides of the labor market vary search effort at the extensive margins. We show that this set-up is of considerable analytical convenience and that it gives rise to a linear relationship between labor market tightness and the marginal utility of consumption. We refer to the latter as the %u201Cconsumption - tightness puzzle%u201D because (a) it gives rise to a number of counterfactual implications, and (b) it is a robust implication of theory. Amongst the counterfactual implications are very low volatility of tightness, procyclical unemployment, and a positively sloped Beveridge curve. These implications all derive from procyclical variations in participation rates that follow from allowing for the extensive search margin.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12421.

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Date of creation: Aug 2006
Publication status: published as The Consumption-Tightness Puzzle , Morten O. Ravn. in NBER International Seminar on Macroeconomics 2006 , Reichlin and West. 2008
Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12421
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Find related papers by 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
  • J20 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - General
  • J41 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Labor Contracts
  • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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