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An Overlapping-Generations Model Of Firm Heterogeneity In Economic Development, Yu Chen, Haiwen Zhou
An Overlapping-Generations Model Of Firm Heterogeneity In Economic Development, Yu Chen, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
We study firm heterogeneity in economic development in an overlapping-generations general equilibrium model in which manufacturing firms engage in oligopolistic competition. Individuals differ in their productivities in the manufacturing sector and choose to become entrepreneurs or workers. The model is surprisingly tractable. In the steady state, an increase in the entry barrier in the manufacturing sector or an increase in the percentage of income spent on the agricultural good decreases the wage rate, but the level of output in the manufacturing sector does not necessarily decrease. An increase in the degree of patience of an individual increases the steady state …
The Choice Of Technology And Equilibrium Wage Rigidity, Haiwen Zhou
The Choice Of Technology And Equilibrium Wage Rigidity, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
In this general equilibrium model, firms engage in oligopolistic competition and choose increasing returns technologies to maximize profits. Capital and labor are the two factors of production. The existence of efficiency wages leads to unemployment. The model is able to explain some interesting observations of the labor market. First, even though there is neither long-term labor contract nor costs of wage adjustment, wage rigidity is an equilibrium phenomenon: an increase in the exogenous job separation rate, the size of the population, the cost of exerting effort, and the probability that shirking is detected will not change the equilibrium wage rate. …
Intermediate Inputs And External Economies, Haiwen Zhou
Intermediate Inputs And External Economies, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
Is the degree of external economies (at the industry level) higher than the degree of internal increasing returns (at the firm level)? If so, what is the exact source of this difference? In the general equilibrium model in which firms producing final goods choose the degree of specialization of their technologies, external economies arise from the usage of intermediate inputs and the existence of internal increasing returns. It is frequently assumed that increasing returns are absent at the firm level while present at the industry level. In this model, the existence of increasing returns at the firm level is necessary …
Intra-Firm Specialization, Income Distribution, And International Trade, Haiwen Zhou
Intra-Firm Specialization, Income Distribution, And International Trade, Haiwen Zhou
Economics Faculty Publications
The impact of international trade on a firm’s degree of specialization and income distribution is studied in a general equilibrium framework in which firms engage in oligopolistic competition. International trade increases a firm’s degree of specialization, but the number of goods a country produces may not change. Trade may lower the welfare of the scarce factor of production. Sufficient conditions for a country’s welfare to increase with trade are provided.