Labor Supply Elasticities: Can Micro Be Misleading for Macro?

Riccardo Fiorito () and Giulio Zanella ()

Department of Economics University of Siena from Department of Economics, University of Siena

Abstract: In this paper we compare “micro” and “macro” labor supply elasticities in a MaCurdy-type equation. Using PSID data, we obtain the micro elasticity from standard panel techniques, and the macro elasticity from the time series generated by aggregating individuals every year. This procedure relies on the exact aggregation of first-order conditions in a life-cycle model with home production. We find an individual elasticity of about 0.1, a low value in line with mainstream microeconometric studies, and an aggregate elasticity of about 1, a much larger value often assumed in calibration studies. This discrepancy is not due to aggregation bias: it is due to the fact that individual and total hours are different variables, with the extensive margin that empirically dominates. A broader implication of our result is that micro evidence is not always appropriate for calibrating an aggregate model economy

Keywords: elasticity of labor supply; aggregation; calibration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E13 E32 J22 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-lab and nep-mac
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Labor Supply Elasticities: Can Micro Be Misleading for Macro? (2008)
Working Paper: Labor Supply Elasticities: Can Micro be Misleading for Macro?
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:usi:wpaper:547

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