Risky Business Cycles
Working Paper 28693
DOI 10.3386/w28693
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We identify a shock that explains the bulk of fluctuations in equity risk premia, and show that the shock also explains a large fraction of the business-cycle comovements of output, consumption, employment, and investment. Recessions induced by the shock are associated with reallocation away from full-time labor positions, and towards part-time and flexible contract workers. We develop a novel real model with labor market frictions and fluctuations in risk appetite, where a “flight-to-safety” reallocation from riskier to safer factors of production precipitate a recession that can explain the data, since the safer factors offer lower marginal products in equilibrium.