Reservation Raises: The Aggregate Labour Supply Curve at the Extensive Margin
Preston Mui, Benjamin Schoefer
Review of Economic Studies,
Nr. 1,
2025
Abstract
We measure desired labour supply at the extensive (employment) margin in two representative surveys of the U.S. and German populations. We elicit reservation raises: the percent wage change that renders a given individual indifferent between employment and nonemployment. It is equal to her reservation wage divided by her actual, or potential, wage. The reservation raise distribution is the nonparametric aggregate labour supply curve. Locally, the curve exhibits large short-run elasticities above 3, consistent with business cycle evidence. For larger upward shifts, arc elasticities shrink towards 0.5, consistent with quasi-experimental evidence from tax holidays. Existing models fail to match this nonconstant, asymmetric curve.
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From Labor to Intermediates: Firm Growth, Input Substitution, and Monopsony
Matthias Mertens, Benjamin Schoefer
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 24,
2024
Abstract
We document and dissect a new stylized fact about firm growth: the shift from labor to intermediate inputs. This shift occurs in input quantities, cost and output shares, and output elasticities. We establish this fact using German firm-level data and replicate it in administrative firm data from 11 additional countries. We also document these patterns in micro-aggregated industry data for 20 European countries (and, with respect to industry cost shares, for the US). We rationalize this novel regularity within a parsimonious model featuring (i) an elasticity of substitution between intermediates and labor that exceeds unity, and (ii) an increasing shadow price of labor relative to intermediates, due to monopsony power over labor or labor adjustment costs. The shift from labor to intermediates accounts for one half to one third of the decline in the labor share in growing firms (the remainder is due to wage markdowns and markups) and rationalizes most of the labor share decline in growing industries.
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From Labor to Intermediates: Firm Growth, Input Substitution, and Monopsony
Matthias Mertens, Benjamin Schoefer
IWH-CompNet Discussion Papers,
Nr. 1,
2024
Abstract
We document and dissect a new stylized fact about firm growth: the shift from labor to intermediate inputs. This shift occurs in input quantities, cost and output shares, and output elasticities. We establish this fact using German firm-level data and replicate it in administrative firm data from 11 additional countries. We also document these patterns in micro-aggregated industry data for 20 European countries (and, with respect to industry cost shares, for the US). We rationalize this novel regularity within a parsimonious model featuring (i) an elasticity of substitution between intermediates and labor that exceeds unity, and (ii) an increasing shadow price of labor relative to intermediates, due to monopsony power over labor or labor adjustment costs. The shift from labor to intermediates accounts for one half to one third of the decline in the labor share in growing firms (the remainder is due to wage markdowns and markups) and rationalizes most of the labor share decline in growing industries.
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Medienecho
Medienecho April 2025 IWH: Trump schadet Dax-Konzernen in: Focus Money, 02.04.2025 Reint Gropp: Mithalten? Warum nicht in: Süddeutsche Zeitung, 02.04.2025 Reint Gropp: Wie…
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Das IWH im Kurzportrait Das Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung Halle (IWH) wurde mit Wirkung zum 1. Januar 1992 gegründet. Als Institut der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft wird sein…
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Wirtschaft im Wandel Die Zeitschrift „Wirtschaft im Wandel“ unterrichtet die breite Öffentlichkeit über aktuelle Themen der Wirtschaftsforschung. Sie stellt wirtschaftspolitisch…
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IWH-Alumni Das IWH pflegt den Kontakt zu seinen ehemaligen Mitarbeiterinnen und Mitarbeitern weltweit. Wir beziehen unsere Alumni in unsere Arbeit ein und unterrichten diese…
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Zeitenwende für die deutsche Wirtschaft? Die außenpolitischen Rahmenbedingungen haben sich mit den drohenden Handelskriegen und der Verschlechterung der Sicherheitslage in Europa…
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Archiv
Medienecho-Archiv 2021 2020 2019 2018 2017 2016 Dezember 2021 IWH: Ausblick auf Wirtschaftsjahr 2022 in Sachsen mit Bezug auf IWH-Prognose zu Ostdeutschland: "Warum Sachsens…
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Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups
Shai B. Bernstein, Richard R. Townsend, Ting Xu
Review of Financial Studies,
Nr. 3,
2024
Abstract
Using proprietary data from AngelList Talent, we study how startup job seekers’ search and application behavior changed during the COVID-19 downturn. We find that workers shifted their searches and applications away from less-established startups and toward more-established ones, even within the same individual over time. At the firm level, this shift was not offset by an influx of new job seekers. Less-established startups experienced a relative decline in the quantity and quality of applications, ultimately affecting their hiring. Our findings uncover a flight-to-safety channel in the labor market that may amplify the procyclical nature of entrepreneurial activities.
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