What are the macroeconomic consequences of changing aggregate lending standards in residential mortgage markets, as measured by loan-to-value (LTV) ratios? In a structural VAR, GDP and business investment increase following an expansionary LTV shock. Residential investment, by contrast, falls, a...

Using a unique German firm-level data set, this paper is the first to jointlystudy the cyclical properties of the cross-sections of firm-level real value addedand Solow residual innovations, as well as capital and employment adjustment.We find two new business cycle facts: 1) The cross-sectional...