Biography
Nir Jaimovich received his PhD from Northwestern University in 2004. Since then, he has held positions at UC San Diego, Stanford, Duke, USC and the University of Zurich. He works on macroeconomics questions with special emphasis on business cycles, labor markets, and the macroeconomic implications of micro product level data and was head of the NBER price dynamics group (together with Bob Hall). His research agenda represents what is most exciting in macroeconomics, which is confronting theory with lessons that can be learned from big data, so that classic theories can be revised to better explain what is observed in the real world. In the area of labor/macro his work shows how demographic composition and occupation structure of the economy shape the dynamics of the business cycle. In addition, his work examines the empirical and theoretical plausibility of signals and uncertainty about future economic fundamentals functioning as important drivers of business cycles. Finally, his micro-pricing product-level data shows how actual firms’ pricing strategies shapes the insights regarding the extent that monetary policy has an impact on the economy. His work has found large resonance inside and outside academia and was featured within policy circles (such as White House official publications) and media outlets such The New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, the Financial Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, Forbes, Swiss and German media.
Student Lecture: 5 October 2023
Disappearing Middle Class
Lecture will delve into the effects of automation on employment, with special focus on the middle class. We will explore the potential ramifications of shifts in the labor market and evaluate policy interventions being proposed to cushion the impact of automation.
Faculty Lecture: 6 October 2023
The Distributional Impact of Sectoral Technical Change
The economic impact of sectoral technical change has long been recognized as an important phenomenon. However, the distributional welfare consequences of these changes are not well understood. To address this gap, we develop an analytical framework that jointly integrates supply-side and demand-side heterogeneity. Without imposing structural restrictions on the consumption and production sides, the framework identifies the key forces---in terms of consumer preferences and sectoral production functions---shaping the welfare effects of sectoral technical changes. We estimate key parameters and quantify the heterogeneous welfare effects of sectoral technical changes, revealing significant variation in their impact. Finally, we show how our general framework can be applied to other exogenous sectoral changes by analyzing the distributional welfare impact of sectoral demand shifters.