Three Essays in Macro Labor Teory

Abstract

This thesis presents three papers in macro labor theory. All of them share the particular approach to the theory of unemployment pioneered by Dale Mortensen and Chris Pissarides. In these models unemployment is frictional, and emerges as an equilibrium outcome in an economy where workers and firms are value-maximizing agents trading labor services. To date, the Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model has become the standard framework for the macroeconomic analysis of labor markets. The heart of its success lies in its ability to offer an appealing description of the functioning of the labor markets together with analytical flexibility. In my thesis I exploit these virtues of the canonical framework in order to study different topics of interest in the macro labor literature.