DP1642 Business Cycles and Long-run Growth

Author(s): Gilles Saint-Paul
Publication Date: May 1997
Keyword(s): Busniess Cycles, Endogenous Growth, Labour Hoarding, Long-run Growth, Productivity, Restructuring
JEL(s): E32, O3, O4
Programme Areas: International Macroeconomics
Link to this Page: cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=1642

This survey discusses the effect of macroeconomic fluctuations on long-run growth from both a theoretical and empirical perspective. It emphasizes the ?opportunity cost? approach, which states that firms will intertemporally substitute productivity-enhancing activities for regular production activity during recessions. It provides aggregate evidence in favour of the opportunity cost approach.