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We develop a heterogenous agent macro model to analyze the wealth elasticity of aggregate labor supply. The model's micro-foundation features several channels through which household balance sheets can affect work decisions, beyond simply the structure of labor-leisure preferences. The calibrated model's steady state replicates the economy's joint distribution of household wealth and hours worked, and matches experimental estimates of the microeconomic wealth elasticity of labor supply. Applying the model to study the recovery dynamics in output and employment following the 2019 recession, we find that government stimulus had only a muted effect on the sluggish recovery in employment. The muted effect follows from the fact that the model implied macroeconomic elasticity is considerably smaller than microeconomic estimates from the empirical literature. The model also suggests that the gap between the microeconomic and macroeconomic elasticities may systematically widen during recessions due to increased precautionary motives and compositional changes in the labor force.
Presenter(s)
Titan Alon, University of California San Diego
The Wealth Elasticity of Aggregate Labor Supply: A Macroeconomic Approach