Credit Crunch and Downward Nominal Wage Rigidities

Abstract

Through the lens of a DSGE model, I find that financial shocks in conjunction with downward nominal wage rigidities (DNWR) are important features in explaining the degree of asymmetry that U.S. business cycles exhibit. Financial shocks are constructed as residuals of the borrowing constraint faced by firms in a similar fashion to Jermann and Quadrini (2012). The effects of these shocks on aggregate quantity variables are amplified by DNWR, especially during the global financial crisis. Moreover, my model explains a large part of the upward shift in the labor wedge that occurred during this recession.