Work

Procyclical Labor Productivity and Competing Theories of the Business Cycle: Some Evidence from Interwar U.S. Manufacturing Industries

Year: 1990

Type: article

Abstract: We study the phenomenon of short-run increasing returns to labor (SRIRL) in a sample of 10 interwar U.S. manufacturing industries. Our main findings are that SRIRL was common in the interwar period and that the pattern of SRIRL across industries was similar to that observed in the postwar period. We argue that, since presumably the Depression was not caused by technical regress, these findings are inconsistent with the claim of real business cycle theorists that SRIRL is in general due to procyclical technical shocks. We propose tests for discriminating between two other leading explanations of SRIRL but find that our conclusions differ by industry.

Source: Journal of Political Economy

DOI: 10.1086/261761

Authors: Ben S. Bernanke, Martin L. Parkinson

Institutions: Federal Reserve Board of Governors, Michigan Department of Treasury

Language: English

Topic: Monetary Policy and Economic Impact

Subfield: General Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2010686267

FWCI: 6.15

Cites:

Cited by: 157

Related to: 10