Estimation of Dynamic Labor Demand Schedules under Rational Expectations

Abstract

A dynamic linear demand schedule for labor is estimated and tested. The hypothesis of rational expectations and assumptions about the orders of the Markov processes governing technology impose overidentifying restrictions on a vector autoregression for straight-time employment, overtime employment, and the real wage. The model is estimated by the full-information maximum-likelihood method. The model is used as a vehicle for reexamining some of the paradoxical cyclical behavior of real wages described in the famous Dunlop-Tarshis-Keynes exchange.