Wage inequality, segregation by skill and the price of capital in an assignment model

Some pieces of empirical evidence suggest that in the U.S., over the last few decades, (i) wage inequality between-plants has risen much more than wage inequality within-plants and (ii) there has been an increase in the segregation of workers by skill into separate plants. This paper presents a frictionless assignment model in which these two features can be explained simultaneously as the result of the decline in the relative price of capital. Additional implications of the model regarding the skill premium and the dispersion in labor productivity across plants are also consistent with the empirical evidence. [resumen de autor

The labor market effects of technology shocks

We analyze the effects of neutral and investment-specific technology shocks on hours worked and unemployment. We characterize the response of unemployment in terms of job separation and job finding rates. We find that job separation rates mainly account for the impact response of unemployment while job finding rates for movements along its adjustment path. Neutral shocks increase unemployment and explain a substantial portion of unemployment and output volatilityinvestment-specific shocks expand employment and hours worked and mostly contribute to hours worked volatility. We show that this evidence is consistent with the view that neutral technological progress prompts Schumpeterian creative destruction, while investment specific technological progress has standard neoclassical feature

Current Account Balances and Structural Adjustment in the Euro Area

In the past decade, a set of euro area countries has accumulated large current account deficits. After a brief relaxation of the euro area internal imbalances in the wake of the financial crisis, it appears as if this pattern arises anew when times normalize again and Germany still sticks to export-led growth. This issue has been labelled one of the most challenging economic policy issues for Europe inter alia by the European Commission and some other players on the EU level. In this paper, we analyse the role of private restructuring and structural reforms for the urgently needed sustainable readjustment of intra-euro area current account balances. A panel regression reveals a significant impact of structural reforms on intra-euro area current account balances. This implies that in particular structural reforms and wage restraint in notorious current account and budget deficit countries such as Greece are highly suitable to support long-term economic stability in Europe.In den vergangenen Jahren haben einige Staaten der EWU, besonders Griechenland, Spanien und Portugal, hohe Leistungsbilanzdefizite aufgebaut. Die Finanzmarktkrise führte zwar zu einer Entspannung, jedoch ist eine deutliche Reduzierung der Defizite nicht in Sicht. Insbesondere durch die Griechenland-Krise haben die Leistungsbilanzdefizite einen hohen Stellenwert auf der wirtschaftspolitischen Agenda der EU eingenommen. Das Papier untersucht, inwieweit private Restrukturierungsmaßnahmen der Privatwirtschaft und/oder Strukturreformen zu einer notwendigen und nachhaltigen Korrektur der Leistungsbilanzdefizite in der EWU beitragen können. Eine umfassende empirische Analyse zeigt die herausragende Bedeutung von Strukturreformen für die Anpassung der Leistungsbilanzen innerhalb der EWU. Der Effekt von Arbeitsmarktreformen ist besonders ausgeprägt. Dies unterstützt die Forderung nach umfassenden und nachhaltigen Strukturreformen in der EWU, besonders in den Ländern mit hohen Leistungsbilanzdefiziten. Dies würde die derzeitigen ökonomischen Spannungen in der EWU reduzieren und die Stabilität der EWU sowie des Euros erhöhen