FIRM LEVERAGE, CONSUMER DEMAND, AND EMPLOYMENT LOSSES DURING THE GREAT RECESSION

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Giroud, Xavier; Mueller, Holger M.
• 署名单位: Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); National Bureau of Economic Research; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK; New York University
• 刊物名称: QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0033-5533
• DOI: 10.1093/qje/qjw035
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 271-316
• 关键词: business-cycle; house prices; LABOR; Germany; PRODUCTIVITY; unemployment; constraints; explains; BEHAVIOR; CRISIS

摘要

This article argues that firms' balance sheets were instrumental in the transmission of consumer demand shocks during the Great Recession. Using micro-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, we find that establishments of more highly levered firms experienced significantly larger employment losses in response to declines in local consumer demand. These results are not driven by firms being less productive, having expanded too much prior to the Great Recession, or being generally more sensitive to fluctuations in either aggregate employment or house prices. Likewise, at the county level, we find that counties with more highly levered firms experienced significantly larger declines in employment in response to local consumer demand shocks. Accordingly, firms' balance sheets also matter for aggregate employment. Our results suggest a possible role for employment policies that target firms directly besides conventional stimulus.