The Interaction between Credit and Labor Market Frictions

I study a novel two-way feedback between credit and labor market frictions. Running from credit to labor markets, amplitude in capital demand induced by collateral constraints spills over onto labor demand due to the complementarity of capital and labor; and, furthermore, credit frictions raise effective financial hiring costs, inducing firms to delay hiring in recessions. Running back from labor to credit markets, search frictions admit a degree of inflexibility in wages which induces greater volatility of net worth, via the wage bill, which then spills over onto capital demand. Together, these considerably amplify and propagate labor and capital market dynamics.