Publications of Matthias Kehrig    :chronological  alphabetical  combined listing:

%% Papers Submitted   
@article{fds345020,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {The micro-level anatomy of the labor share
             decline},
   Pages = {1031-1087},
   Year = {2021},
   Month = {May},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qje/qjab002},
   Abstract = {The labor share in U.S. manufacturing declined from 61% in
             1967 to 41% in 2012. The labor share of the typical U.S.
             manufacturing establishment, in contrast, rose by over 3
             percentage points during the same period. Using micro-level
             data, we document five salient facts: (i) since the 1980s,
             there has been a dramatic reallocation of value added toward
             the lower end of the labor share distribution; (ii) this
             aggregate reallocation is not due to entry/exit, to
             "superstars"growing faster, or to large establishments
             lowering their labor shares, but is instead due to units
             whose labor share fell as they grew in size; (iii) low labor
             share (LL) establishments benefit from high revenue labor
             productivity, not low wages; (iv) they also enjoy a product
             price premium relative to their peers; and (v) they have
             only temporarily lower labor shares that rebound after five
             to eight years. This transient pattern has become more
             pronounced over time, and the dynamics of value added and
             employment are increasingly disconnected. Taken together, we
             interpret these facts as pointing to a significant role for
             demand-side forces.},
   Doi = {10.1093/qje/qjab002},
   Key = {fds345020}
}

@article{fds324542,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Ziebarth, NL},
   Title = {The effects of the real oil price on regional wage
             dispersion},
   Pages = {115-148},
   Publisher = {American Economic Association},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {January},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1257/mac.20150097},
   Abstract = {We find that oil supply shocks decrease average real wages,
             particularly skilled wages, and increase wage dispersion
             across regions, particularly unskilled wage dispersion. In a
             model with spatial energy intensity differences and
             nontradables, labor demand shifts, while explaining the
             response of average wages to oil supply shocks, have
             counterfactual implications for the response of wage
             dispersion. Only an additional response in labor supply can
             explain this latter fact, highlighting the importance of
             general equilibrium effects in a spatial context. We provide
             additional empirical evidence of regionally directed worker
             reallocation and housing prices consistent with our spatial
             model. Finally, we show that a calibrated version of our
             model can quantitatively match the estimated effects of oil
             supply shocks.},
   Doi = {10.1257/mac.20150097},
   Key = {fds324542}
}

@article{fds325834,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Donangelo, A and Gourio, F and Palacios,
             M},
   Title = {The Cross-Section of Labor Leverage and Equity
             Returns},
   Pages = {497-518},
   Publisher = {Elsevier BV},
   Year = {2016},
   Month = {September},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.10.016},
   Abstract = {Using a standard production model, we demonstrate
             theoretically that, even if labor is fully flexible, it
             generates a form of operating leverage if (a) wages are
             smoother than productivity and (b) the capital-labor
             elasticity of substitution is strictly less than one. Our
             model supports using labor share -- the ratio of labor
             expenses to value added -- as a proxy for labor leverage. We
             show evidence for conditions (a) and (b), and we demonstrate
             the economic significance of labor leverage: High
             labor-share firms have operating profits that are more
             sensitive to shocks, and they have higher expected asset
             returns.},
   Doi = {10.1016/j.jfineco.2018.10.016},
   Key = {fds325834}
}

@article{fds325835,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Financial Frictions and Investment Dynamics in Multi-Plant
             Firms},
   Year = {2013},
   Month = {April},
   Abstract = {Using confidential Census data on U.S. manufacturing plants,
             we document that most of the dispersion in investment rates
             across plants occurs within firms instead of across firms.
             Between- firm dispersion is almost acyclical, but within-
             firm dispersion is strongly procyclical. To investigate the
             role of firms in the allocation of capital in the economy,
             we build a multi-plant model of the firm with frictions at
             both levels of aggregation. We show that external financing
             constraints at the level of the firm can have important
             implications for plant-level investment dynamics. Finally,
             we present empirical evidence supporting the predictions of
             the model.},
   Key = {fds325835}
}

@article{fds324545,
   Author = {Vincent, N and Kehrig, M},
   Title = {Investment and Productivity Dynamics at the Plant and the
             Firm Level},
   Year = {2013},
   Abstract = {Using micro-level Census data, we document that investment
             across plants within the same firm is more dispersed than
             investment across firms. In an expansion, investment
             patterns across plants within a firm become even more
             dispersed while between-firm dispersion does not vary over
             the business cycle. Contrary to the procyclical investment
             dispersion, productivity dispersion across plants within a
             firm is countercyclical which in the absence of frictions
             would lead to a countercyclical investment dispersion.
             Although firms tend to pick relatively productive plants for
             large investment projects in booms, this
             productivity-investment link vanishes in a recession. We use
             these findings to explore the quantitative relevance of real
             and financial frictions in a quantitative model of
             multi-plant firms. Frictions internal to the firm seem to
             govern the majority of investment dynamics compared to
             frictions in external capital markets.},
   Key = {fds324545}
}

@article{fds324546,
   Author = {Kehrig, M},
   Title = {The Cyclicality of Productivity Dispersion},
   Year = {2011},
   Abstract = {Using plant-level data, I show that the dispersion of total
             factor productivity in U.S. durable manufacturing is greater
             in recessions than in booms. This cyclical property of
             productivity dispersion is much less pronounced in
             non-durable manufacturing. In durables, this phenomenon
             primarily reflects a relatively higher share of unproductive
             firms in a recession. In order to interpret these findings,
             I construct a business cycle model where production in
             durables requires a fixed input. In a boom, when the market
             price of this fixed input is high, only more productive
             firms enter and only more productive incumbents survive,
             which results in a more compressed productivity
             distribution. The resulting higher average productivity in
             durables endogenously translates into a lower average
             relative price of durables. Additionally, my model is
             consistent with the following business cycle facts:
             procyclical entry, procyclical aggregate total factor
             productivity, more procyclicality in durable than
             non-durable output, procyclical employment and
             countercyclicality in the relative price of durables and the
             cross section of stock returns.},
   Key = {fds324546}
}


%% Journal Articles   
@article{fds345018,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Good Dispersion, Bad Dispersion},
   Year = {2019},
   Month = {June},
   Key = {fds345018}
}

@article{fds345019,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Good Dispersion, Bad Dispersion},
   Year = {2019},
   Month = {June},
   Key = {fds345019}
}

@article{fds345021,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {The Micro-Level Anatomy of the Labor Share
             Decline},
   Year = {2018},
   Month = {November},
   Key = {fds345021}
}

@article{fds324108,
   Author = {Ilut, C and Kehrig, M and Schneider, M},
   Title = {Slow to hire, quick to fire: Employment dynamics with
             asymmetric responses to news},
   Journal = {Journal of Political Economy},
   Volume = {126},
   Number = {5},
   Pages = {2011-2071},
   Year = {2018},
   Month = {October},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/699189},
   Abstract = {Concave hiring rules imply that firms respond more to bad
             shocks than to good shocks. They provide a unified
             explanation for several seemingly unrelated facts about
             employment growth in macro-and microdata. In particular,
             they generate countercyclical movement in both aggregate
             conditional “macro” volatility and cross-sectional
             “micro” volatility, as well as negative skewness in the
             cross section and in the time series at different levels of
             aggregation. Concave establishment-level responses of
             employment growth to total factor productivity shocks
             estimated from census data induce significant skewness,
             movements in volatility, and amplification of bad aggregate
             shocks.},
   Doi = {10.1086/699189},
   Key = {fds324108}
}

@article{fds335430,
   Author = {Kehrig, M},
   Title = {Comment on “Computerizing industries and routinizing jobs:
             Explaining trends in aggregate productivity” by Sangmin
             Aum, Sang Yoon (Tim) Lee and Yongseok Shin},
   Journal = {Journal of Monetary Economics},
   Volume = {97},
   Pages = {22-28},
   Publisher = {Elsevier BV},
   Year = {2018},
   Month = {August},
   url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoneco.2018.05.004},
   Abstract = {Aum et al. (2018) quantify the impact of production
             complementarities and differential productivity growth
             across occupations and sectors on the slowdown of aggregate
             productivity growth. This note expands their work to study
             substitutability between new computer equipment and labor in
             individual occupations as opposed to all occupations
             combined. Preliminary empirical evidence suggests (1)
             significantly different elasticities of substitution between
             computers and labor across occupations and (2) a strong
             correlation between productivity growth of computers and
             labor in occupations where these two inputs are
             complementary. When they are substitutes, however, their
             productivity growth rates appear uncorrelated. These
             findings have the potential to amplify or weaken the
             magnitude of the aggregate productivity slowdown explained
             by Aum et al. (2018) making their approach a promising
             avenue for future research.},
   Doi = {10.1016/j.jmoneco.2018.05.004},
   Key = {fds335430}
}

@article{fds339821,
   Author = {Donangelo, A and Gourio, F and Kehrig, M and Palacios,
             M},
   Title = {The Cross-Section of Labor Leverage and Equity
             Returns},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {September},
   Key = {fds339821}
}

@article{fds327169,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Growing Productivity Without Growing Wages: The Micro-Level
             Anatomy of the Aggregate Labor Share Decline},
   Journal = {CESifo Working Paper Series},
   Number = {6454},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {May},
   Key = {fds327169}
}

@article{fds327170,
   Author = {Gao, W and Kehrig, M},
   Title = {Returns to Scale, Productivity and Competition: Empirical
             Evidence from U.S. Manufacturing and Construction
             Establishments},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {May},
   Key = {fds327170}
}

@article{fds324544,
   Author = {Ilut, CL and Kehrig, M and Schneider, M},
   Title = {Slow to Hire, Quick to Fire: Employment Dynamics with
             Asymmetric Responses to News},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {April},
   Key = {fds324544}
}

@article{fds327171,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Growing Productivity Without Growing Wages: The Micro-Level
             Anatomy of the Aggregate Labor Share Decline},
   Journal = {Economic Research Initiatives at Duke (ERID) Working
             Paper},
   Number = {244},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {April},
   Key = {fds327171}
}

@article{fds327172,
   Author = {Ilut, CL and Kehrig, M and Schneider, M},
   Title = {Slow to Hire, Quick to Fire: Employment Dynamics with
             Asymmetric Responses to News},
   Journal = {CESifo Working Paper Series},
   Number = {6414},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {April},
   Key = {fds327172}
}

@article{fds327173,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Lehmann-Ziebarth, N},
   Title = {The Effect of the Real Oil Price on Regional Wage
             Dispersion},
   Journal = {CESifo Working Paper Series},
   Number = {6408},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {March},
   Key = {fds327173}
}

@article{fds325833,
   Author = {Kehrig, M and Vincent, N},
   Title = {Do Firms Mitigate or Magnify Capital Misallocation? Evidence
             from Plant-Level Data},
   Year = {2017},
   Month = {February},
   Key = {fds325833}
}

@article{fds324543,
   Author = {Ilut, CL and Kehrig, M and Schneider, M},
   Title = {Slow to Hire, Quick to Fire: Employment Dynamics with
             Asymmetric Responses to News},
   Year = {2016},
   Month = {December},
   Key = {fds324543}
}