A recent theoretical literature highlights the role of endogenous firm entry as an internal amplification mechanism of business cycle fluctuations. The amplification mechanism works through the competition and the variety effect. This paper tests the significance of this amplification mechanism,...

Durch die anstehende Revision der Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen rechnet sich auch Deutschland reicher: Das Bruttoinlandsprodukt wird merklich höher ausfallen, wie schon bei den früheren Revisionen, und auch das Anlagevermögen nimmt rechnerisch deutlich zu. Bedeutsam hierfür ist die...

Using CPS data from 1979-2009 we examine how cyclical downturns and industry-specific demand shocks affect wage differentials between white non-Hispanic men and women, Hispanics and non-Hispanic whites, and African-Americans and non-Hispanic whites. Women's relative earnings are harmed by...

According to empirical studies, the life cycle of labor supply volatility exhibits a U-shaped pattern. This may lead to the conclusion that demographic change induces a drop in output volatility. We present an overlapping generations model that replicates the empirically observed pattern and...

In the Great Recession most OECD countries used short-time work (publicly subsidized working time reductions) to counteract a steep increase in unemployment. We show that short-time work can actually save jobs. However, there is an important distinction to be made: While the rule-based component...

This paper presents a New Keynesian DSGE model with inventory holding firms. The model distinguishes between goods and materials, for both production as well as for inventories. The more detailed treatment of inventory holdings offers new insights into the determinants of business cycles before...

This paper introduces inventories in an otherwise standard dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. Firms accumulate inventories to facilitate sales, but face a cost of doing so in terms of costly storage of intermediate goods. Based on U.S. data we estimate the parameters of our model...