Conformally Coupled Induced Gravity with Gradient Torsion

It is found that conformally coupled induced gravity with gradient torsion gives a dilaton gravity in Riemann geometry. In the Einstein frame of the dilaton gravity the conformal symmetry is hidden and a non-vanishing cosmological constant is not plausible due to the constraint of the conformal coupling.Comment: 8pages, LaTeX, no figure, to be appeared in PR

Asymptotic Conformal Invariance of SU(2) and Standard Models in Curved Space-time

The asymptotic conformal invariance of some SU(2) model and Standard Model in curved space-time are investigated. We have examined the conditions for asymptotic conformal invariance for these models numerically.Comment: 13 pages, Revtex3.

Understanding How Price Responds to Costs and Production

The importance of sticky prices in business cycle fluctuations has been debated for many years. But we argue, based on a large empirical literature from the 1950's and 60's, that it is necessary to distinguish the response of price to an increase in factor prices from its response to an increase in marginal cost generated by an expansion in production. Consistent with that earlier literature, we find for 450 U.S. manufacturing industries that prices do respond more to increases in costs driven by changes in factor prices than to increases in marginal cost precipitated by expansions in output. We explore two models that can potentially explain these findings. Both break the link between price and marginal cost, thereby generating what one might naively interpret as average-cost pricing. The first is driven by firms pricing to limit entry. The second is driven by firms pricing to limit non-price competition within their market.

Asymmetric Phase Shifts in the U.S. Industrial Production Cycles

We identify the cyclical turning points of 74 U.S. manufacturing industries and uncover new empirical regularities: (i) Cyclical phase shifts are highly concentrated around the aggregate turning points; (ii) In contrast to the conventional notion of a sudden stop and slow recovery, troughs are much more concentrated than peaks; (iii) Occurrences of phase shifts across industries support the spillovers through input-output linkages; (iv) The common macroeconomic shocks, such as exogenous changes in the federal funds rate, government spending, and oil prices, are significant drivers of industrial phase shifts; (v) Both monetary and fiscal policy shocks are more effective in recessions.Business cycles; Comovement; Turning points; Asymmetries

Welfare Costs of Sticky Wages When Effort Can Respond

We examine the impact of wage stickiness when employment has an effort as well as hours dimension. Despite wages being predetermined, the labor market clears through the effort margin. Consequently, welfare costs of wage stickiness are potentially much, much smaller.Sticky Wage, Endogenous Effort, Welfare Cost

Labor-Supply Shifts and Economic Fluctuations

We investigate the role of labor-supply shifts in economic fluctuations. A new VAR identification scheme for labor supply shocks is proposed. According to our VAR analysis of post-war U.S. data, labor-supply shifts account for about half the variation in hours and one-fifth of variation in aggregate output. To assess the role of labor-supply shifts in a more structural framework, estimates from a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model with stochastic variation in home production technology are compared to those from the VAR. To obtain a VAR identification scheme that is consistent with the DSGE model, we cannot solely rely on ``zero-restrictions''. Instead we indirectly specify a proper prior distribution for impulse responses and variance decompositions and update it through the sample information. Our method provides an alternative to recently proposed identification schemes that rely on inequality restrictions on the direction of impulse responses.Fluctuation of Hours, VAR Identification, Home Production, Bayesian Econometrics

Cyclical Movements in Hours and Effort under Sticky Wages

We examine the response of a sticky-wage economy to various real and nominal shocks. In addition to variations in hours, we allow for an endogenous response in worker effort per hour. Despite wages being predetermined, the labor market clears through the effort margin. We find that the ability of a sticky-wage model to mimic U.S. business cycles is much improved by allowing for reasonable effort movements. The model also provides a ready explanation for the finding that TFP is negatively affected by nominal shocks.Sticky Wages, Endogenous Effort, Productivity, Business Cycles