Short-Time Work and Precautionary Savings
研究了短时工作（政府补贴减少工时）如何影响企业和家庭行为，发现它降低工人预防性储蓄动机和劳动成本，减少失业波动但可能降低生产率。
Abstract During the COVID-19 crisis, most OECD countries used short-time work (subsidised reductions in working hours) to preserve employment. This paper documents that short-time work affects the behaviour of firms (supply) and households (demand). First, using household survey data from Germany, we show that the consumption risk of short-time work is lower than that of unemployment. Second, we construct a New Keynesian model with heterogeneous workers and firms, incomplete asset markets and labour market frictions. Short-time work weakens workers’ precautionary savings motive and lowers labour costs. This reduces the level and volatility of both the separation and unemployment rate at the cost of tying workers to less productive firms. Quantitatively, the positive employment effects dominate the productivity losses.