Reconciling Micro Elasticities with the Macro Decline in Labor Supply

Loukas Karabarbounis

No 21600, CEPR Discussion Papers from Centre for Economic Policy Research

Abstract: Micro estimates of the Marshallian elasticity of labor supply are small and typically positive, whereas cross-country and time-series patterns of hours imply a strong negative relationship between wages and hours. I reconcile these two apparently contradictory observations using a single utility specification and taking into account heterogeneity in non-labor income. Micro estimates condition on non-labor income, while macro variation allows capital income to adjust alongside labor income, which strengthens the income effect. A model with heterogeneous households and exogenous capital income yields closed-form expressions in which the distribution of the labor share shapes the gap between the micro and the macro elasticities. A cross-sectional regression of hours on wages that conditions on the labor share recovers the macro elasticity. A dynamic model with heterogeneous households and incomplete asset markets reproduces both elasticities as outcomes when disciplined by joint moments of wages, hours, consumption, and wealth. The income effects that bridge the gap between the two elasticities imply marginal propensities to earn that lie in the range of estimates of micro studies on lottery winners.

Date: 2026-06
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