RESEARCH

Working Papers

Nonlinearities in the Regional Phillips Curve with Labor Market Tightness

[Draft]

Abstract: This paper is the first to show the presence of nonlinearities in the regional U.S. New Keynesian Phillips curve with the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio as a measure of labor market tightness. Such nonlinearities contribute to explaining the unexpected and persistent post-COVID inflation surge and have important implications for monetary policy. To guide my empirical exercise, I add to a standard multi-sector, two-region New Keynesian model wage rigidities and search-and-matching frictions in the labor market. The model delivers a piecewise log-linear regional Phillips curve, which becomes steeper when labor markets become tight. I estimate the Phillips curve using panel variation in core inflation and a newly imputed measure of the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio across U.S. metropolitan areas from December 2000 to July 2024. I instrument the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio with a shift-share instrumental variable to take care of regional supply shocks. The regional Phillips curve is flat in slack labor markets and significantly steepens when labor markets tighten -- specifically when the vacancy-to-unemployment ratio exceeds one. This result implies that if the monetary authority assumes a linear Phillips curve, it will underestimate inflationary pressures in tight labor markets, allowing inflation to surge more than expected.

 

Inflation Since COVID: Demand or Supply?

with A. Cerrato (December 2022).  [Draft]

Abstract: We estimate the slope of the Phillips curve before, during, and after COVID to quantify the extent to which US post-pandemic inflation is propelled by demand factors. To do so, we exploit cross-sectional variation in inflation and unemployment dynamics across US metropolitan areas, using a shift-share instrument to isolate demand-driven fluctuations in local unemployment rates. We specify a two-region New-Keynesian model to derive the slope of the aggregate Phillips curve from our MSA-level estimates. We find that the slope of the Phillips curve dropped to zero during the pandemic and tripled relative to pre-COVID from March 2021 onward, reaching its highest level since the mid-1970s. Demand-driven economic recovery explains around 1.9 out of the 5.6 percentage-point increase in all-items inflation observed from March 2021 to August 2022. Notably, had the slope of the Phillips curve not steepened after COVID, the demand contribution to the rise in inflation would have been small and statistically insignificant.

Work in Progress

Real Interest Rates and the Redistribution of Nominal Wealth in the Euro Area

with M. Dossche, J. Hartwig, A. Matas Mir, M. Roth, T. Panagiota.  [Slides]


Are Demand Shocks Inflationary After All? Local Shale Booms and the Slope of the Phillips Curve

with A. Cerrato. [Draft]

Abstract: To what extent are demand shocks inflationary? The macroeconomic discipline has still not reached a consensus, while the question has regained particular importance in recent times as economists debate over the potential inflationary consequences of fiscal stimulus programs implemented to encourage economic recovery. To answer this question, we must estimate the slope of the Phillips Curve, the structural relationship between economic activity and prices. In this paper, we use exogenous variations induced by local booms due to hydraulic fracturing adoption in the U.S. oil and gas extraction industry to estimate the slope of the regional Phillips curve. Specifically, we adopt an event study approach: we exploit cross-sectional variations in land suitability for fracking to define the treatment and control groups and timing variation of fracking adoption to define the event. We estimate the slope of the (modified) regional Phillips curve to be 0.6. Finally, we construct a multi-region, multi-sectoral New Keynesian model to relate the slope of the regional structural equation to its aggregate counterpart.

 



Discussions

13th Conference of the International Research Forum on Monetary Policy (Washington, DC) Discussion: "Breaks in the Phillips Curve: Evidence from Panel Data," by Smith, Timmermann & Wright 


Joint ECB-IMF-IMFER Conference 2024 (Frankfurt, Germany) Discussion: "Fiscal Stimulus with Supply Constraints," by Fornaro


ECB Research Task Force on Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics and Finance Final Conference (Frankfurt, Germany) Discussion: "Monetary Policy, Labor Income Inequality and Credit: Evidence from Matched Employee-Employer and Credit Registers," by Jasova, Mendicino, Panetti, Peydró & Supera