Collaborative Research: Contract Theory and Labor Market Behavior: An Empirical Analysis

本研究的目的是确定劳动力市场的合同方法是否有助于解释工资和工作时间在商业周期中的变化。使用契约方法的重要的初步发现已经显示出分析这些运动的巨大希望。该项目将涉及在几个方向上扩展这一初步工作，以进一步评估合同在解释劳动力市场结果方面的经验相关性。首先，将开发和测试与个人水平工资数据最一致的合同模型类型。其次，研究将集中在如何估计跨期替代性的休闲时，雇用关系是由长期合同。第三，来自几个不同国家的个人层面的数据将被用来调查如何劳动力市场的灵活性可以比较时，雇佣关系由合同。最后，将分析一个市场清算合同模型，以确定这样的模型是否可以解释就业水平在商业周期的总体行为。这一项目很重要，因为它将有助于深入了解在商业周期中受合同关系影响的工资变动的性质。

The purpose of this research is to determine whether a contractual approach to the labor market can help explain the movements of wages and hours worked over the business cycle. Important, preliminary findings using the contract approach have already shown great promise for analyzing these movements. The project will involve extending this preliminary work in several directions in order to further assess the empirical relevance of contracts in explaining labor market outcomes. Firstly, the type of contract model which is most consistent with individual level wage data will be developed and tested. Secondly, research will focus on how to estimate the intertemporal substitutability of leisure when employment relations are governed by long term contracts. Thirdly, individual level data from several different counties will be used to investigate how labor market flexibility can be compared when employment relations are governed by contracts. Finally, a market clearing contract model will be analyzed to determine whether such a model can explain the aggregate behavior of employment levels over the business cycle. This project is important because it will provide useful insights into the nature of the movement of wages subject to contractual relations over the business cycle.