Login

Essays on the macroeconomics of the labor markets

Show simple item record

dc.contributor.advisor Daron Acemoglu and Iván Werning. en_US
dc.contributor.author Guerrieri, Veronica en_US
dc.contributor.other Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. en_US
dc.date.accessioned 2006-11-07T16:49:12Z
dc.date.available 2006-11-07T16:49:12Z
dc.date.copyright 2006 en_US
dc.date.issued 2006 en_US
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/34658
dc.description Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 2006. en_US
dc.description Includes bibliographical references. en_US
dc.description.abstract In Chapter 1, I study the efficiency properties of competitive search equilibria in economies with informational asymmetries. Employers and workers are both risk-neutral and ex-ante homogeneous. I characterize an equilibrium where employers post contracts and workers direct their search towards them. When a match is formed, the disutility of labor is drawn randomly and observed privately by the worker. An employment contract is an incentive-compatible mechanism that satisfies a participation constraint on the worker's side. I first show that in a static setting the competitive search equilibrium is constrained efficient, that is, it cannot be Pareto improved by a Social Planner subject to the same informational and participation constraints faced by the decentralized economy. I then show that in a dynamic setting, on the contrary, the equilibrium can be constrained inefficient. The crucial difference between the static and the dynamic environment is that the worker's outside option is exogenously given in the former, while in the latter it is endogenously determined as the equilibrium continuation utility of unemployed workers. Inefficiency arises because the worker's outside option affects the ex-ante cost of information revelation, generating a novel externality which is not internalized by competitive search. en_US
dc.description.abstract (cont.) In Chapter 2, I explore whether match-specific heterogeneity, with or without full information, can amplify the responsiveness of unemployment rate and market tightness to productivity shocks. On the contrary, I show that heterogeneity can dampen the response of market tightness to productivity, once one calibrates the model to match two main facts: the finding rate and the finding rate elasticity to market tightness. First, I show a theoretical result for the steady state analysis in the extreme case of no aggegate shock. Then, I report the calibration exercise for alternative specification of the idiosyncratic shocks distribution. Chapter 3 is the product of joint work with Daron Acemoglu and constructs a model of non-balanced economic growth. The main economic force is the combination of differences in factor proportions and capital deepening. Capital deepening tends to increase the relative output of the sector with a greater capital share (despite the equilibrium reallocation of capital and labor away from that sector). We first illustrate this force using a general two-sector model. We then investigate it further using a class of models with constant elasticity of substitution between two sectors and Cobb-Douglas production functions in each sector. en_US
dc.description.abstract (cont.) In this class of models, non-balanced growth is shown to be consistent with an asymptotic equilibrium with constant interest rate and capital share in national income. We investigate whether for realistic parameter values, the model generates transitional dynamics that are consistent with both the more rapid growth of some sectors in the economy and aggregate balanced growth facts. Finally, we construct and analyze a model of "non-balanced endogenous growth," which extends the main results of the paper to an economy with endogenous and directed technical change. This model shows that non-balanced technological progress will generally be an equilibrium phenomenon. en_US
dc.description.provenance Made available in DSpace on 2006-11-07T16:49:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 70879890.pdf: 8002754 bytes, checksum: 205532247ab8fa3b279fb68171caee1f (MD5) 70879890-MIT.pdf: 8011639 bytes, checksum: a585b47b0f062aae8233a4b0c8e3f757 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 en
dc.description.statementofresponsibility by Veronica Guerrieri. en_US
dc.format.extent 160 p. en_US
dc.format.extent 8002754 bytes
dc.format.extent 8011639 bytes
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.language.iso eng en_US
dc.publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology en_US
dc.rights M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. en_US
dc.rights.uri http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582
dc.subject Economics. en_US
dc.title Essays on the macroeconomics of the labor markets en_US
dc.type Thesis en_US
dc.description.degree Ph.D. en_US
dc.contributor.department Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Economics. en_US
dc.identifier.oclc 70879890 en_US

Files in this item

Files Size Format
Preview, non-printable (open to all) 8.002Mb application/pdf
Full printable version (MIT only) 8.011Mb application/pdf

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search DSpace@MIT


Advanced Search

Browse

My Account

Links