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

International Competition and Inflation: A New Keynesian Perspective

We develop and estimate an open economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) in which variable demand elasticities give rise to movements in desired markups in response to changes in competitive pressure from abroad. A parametric restriction yields the standard NKPC under constant elasticity and no role for foreign competition to influence domestic inflation. Foreign competition plays an important role in accounting for the behavior of traded goods price inflation. Foreign competition accounted for more than half of a 4 percentage point decline in domestic goods price inflation in the 1990s. Our results also provide evidence against demand curves with a constant elasticity. (JEL E12, E22, E31, F14, F41)

International Competition and Inflation: A New Keynesian Perspective

We develop and estimate an open economy New Keynesian Phillips Curve (NKPC) in which variable demand elasticities give rise to movements in desired markups in response to changes in competitive pressure from abroad. A parametric restriction yields the standard NKPC under constant elasticity and no role for foreign competition to influence domestic inflation. Foreign competition plays an important role in accounting for the behavior of traded goods price inflation. Foreign competition accounted for more than half of a 4 percentage point decline in domestic goods price inflation in the 1990s. Our results also provide evidence against demand curves with a constant elasticity. (JEL E12, E22, E31, F14, F41)