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Trends in Hours, Balanced Growth and the Role of Technology in the Business Cycle

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  • Galí, Jordi
Abstract
The present paper revisits a property embedded in most dynamic macroeconomic models: the stationarity of hours worked. First, I argue that, contrary to what is often believed, there are many reasons why hours could be non-stationary in those models, while preserving the property of balanced growth. Second, I show that the post-war evidence for most industrialized economies is clearly at odds with the assumption of stationary hours per capita. Third, I examine the implications of that evidence for the role of technology as a source of economic fluctuations in the G7 countries.

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  • Galí, Jordi, 2005. "Trends in Hours, Balanced Growth and the Role of Technology in the Business Cycle," CEPR Discussion Papers 4915, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    • Handle: RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:4915
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    Cited by:

    1. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Measuring Trends in Leisure: The Allocation of Time Over Five Decades," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 122(3), pages 969-1006.
    2. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2006. "Measuring trends in leisure," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    3. Razzak, 2015. "Wage, productivity and unemployment: microeconomics theory and macroeconomics data," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 47(58), pages 6284-6300, December.
    4. Li Gu & Dayong Huang, 2017. "The Effect of the Growth in Labor Hours per Worker on Future Stock Returns, Hiring, and Profitability," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 21(6), pages 2249-2276.
    5. Ippei Fujiwara & Yasuo Hirose & Mototsugu Shintani, 2011. "Can News Be a Major Source of Aggregate Fluctuations? A Bayesian DSGE Approach," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(1), pages 1-29, February.
    6. Avouyi-Dovi, S. & Matheron, J., 2005. "Technology Shocks and Monetary Policy in an Estimated Sticky Price Model of the US Economy," Working papers 123, Banque de France.
    7. Hashmat Khan & John Tsoukalas, 2005. "Technology Shocks and UK Business Cycles," Macroeconomics 0512006, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Peter Ireland & Scott Schuh, 2008. "Productivity and U.S. Macroeconomic Performance: Interpreting the Past and Predicting the Future with a Two-Sector Real Business Cycle Model," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 11(3), pages 473-492, July.
    9. Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2010. "Unmeasured Investment and the Puzzling US Boom in the 1990s," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(4), pages 88-123, October.
    10. Shingo Watanabe, 2012. "The Role Of Technology And Nontechnology Shocks In Business Cycles," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 53(4), pages 1287-1321, November.
    11. Kim, Bae-Geun, 2010. "Identifying a permanent markup shock and its implications for macroeconomic dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(8), pages 1471-1491, August.
    12. Ms. Silvia Sgherri, 2005. "Long-Run Productivity Shifts and Cyclical Fluctuations: Evidence for Italy," IMF Working Papers 2005/228, International Monetary Fund.
    13. Rujin, Svetlana, 2024. "Labor market institutions and technology-induced labor adjustment along the extensive and intensive margins," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    14. Lim, G.C. & McNelis, Paul D., 2008. "Computational Macroeconomics for the Open Economy," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262123061, April.
    15. Malik, Kashif Zaheer & Ali, Syed Zahid & Khalid, Ahmed M., 2014. "Intangible capital in a real business cycle model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 32-48.
    16. Ossama Mikhail, 2005. "What Happens After A Technology Shock? A Bayesian Perspective," Macroeconomics 0510016, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Fabio Canova & David López-Salido & Claudio Michelacci, 2006. "On the robust effects of technology shocks on hours worked and output," Economics Working Papers 1013, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Feb 2008.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Real business cycles; Technology shocks; Non-stationary hours;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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