Estimating Labor Demand with Fixed Costs*
构建了一个动态模型，利用企业是否调整劳动力的离散决策来估计固定成本，发现固定成本约为15个月的劳动力成本。
We consider a dynamic model in which firms decide whether or not to vary labor in the presence of fixed costs. By exploiting the first‐order condition for optimality, we derive a semireduced form in which firms' intertemporal employment is defined by a standard marginal productivity condition augmented by a forward‐looking term. We obtain a marginal productivity equilibrium relation that takes into account the future alternatives of adjustment or nonadjustment that firms face. We use the structural parameter from this condition to estimate the fixed cost within a discrete decision process. Fixed costs are about 15 months' labor cost.