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American Economic Review Vol. 101 No. 3 2011

A Labor Supply Elasticity Accord?

Lars Ljungqvist1; Thomas J. Sargent2

1 Stockholm School of Economics, Box 6501, SE-113 83 Stockholm, Sweden. · 2 New York University, 19 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012.

Abstract

A dispute about the size of the aggregate labor supply elasticity has been fortified by a contentious aggregation theory used by real business cycle theorists. The replacement of that aggregation theory with one more congenial to microeconomic observations opens possibilities for an accord about the aggregate labor supply elasticity. The new aggregation theory drops features to which empirical microeconomists objected and replaces them with life-cycle choices. Whether the new aggregation theory ultimately indicates a small or large macro labor supply elasticity will depend on how shocks and government institutions interact to put workers at interior solutions for career length.

DOI
10.1257/aer.101.3.487
Volume
101
Issue
3
Pages
487-491
Language
en
Sources
bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref openalex

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