Amalia Rosalie Repele

In my research, I study the interaction between inequality and labor market outcomes and its relevance over business cycles, both theoretically and using micro data. I will be on the market in the fall.  

JOB MARKET PAPER

Wealth Sorting and Cyclical Employment Risk

Using data from the PSID survey in the U.S., I present suggestive evidence that the employment probability of asset-poor individuals is more elastic to changes in aggregate output. This finding cannot be fully explained by skills, socio-demographics or past income. I propose a directed search framework that generates this covariance in equilibrium, through job sorting. The model features two-sided heterogeneity in the labor market and aggregate uncertainty. Under certain conditions, asset-poor individuals sort into jobs featuring larger cyclical unemployment risk, as these jobs offer  higher matching probability. Through a similar mechanism, in bad times agents choose to adjust their job search to "worse" jobs to sustain their consumption. I quantify the implications of wealth sorting on wages and job transitions over the business cycle, and revisit results on the cost of business cycles across the wealth distribution.

WORKING PAPERS

• Repele, A. - "Wealth Sorting and Cyclical Employment Risk"
• Bobasu, A., Dobrew, M., & Repele, A. – "Energy price shocks, monetary policy and inequality"
• Bobasu, A., & Repele, A.  – "Effects of monetary policy on labor income: the role of the employer"
• Confalonieri, G., & Repele, A. – "Labor market inequality, insurance mechanisms and the amplification of business cycles"