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January 2018

Metro Level Evidence on the Convexity of the U.S. Phillips Curve
Anthony Murphy, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas 1
1. Introduction and Summary of Findings
Is the U.S. Phillips Curve convex? Does upward pressure on inflation rise increasingly as
unemployment falls below the natural rate of unemployment? If so, should monetary policy
makers act pre-emptively and raise interest rates sooner rather than later? The evidence for
the convexity of the Phillips Curve is rather mixed. Most studies find a convex wage inflation
Phillips Curve, but few studies find a convex price inflation Phillips Curve
My research using metro level inflation and unemployment data suggests that the price
Phillips Curve is “alive”, since labor market slack is always economically and statistically
significant. Although the fit of convex Phillips Curves is sometimest better than the fit of linear
curves, the degree of convexity in the Phillips curve is modest, and is not economically
significant.
2. Review of the Existing Evidence
The evidence for the convexity of the U.S. Phillips Curve is rather mixed. Most studies
find a convex wage inflation Phillips Curve, but few studies find a convex price inflation Phillips
Curve (Tables 1 and 2). From a policy viewpoint, convexity of the price Phillips Curve is more
important since the pass through from wage inflation to price inflation is not that strong. For
example, Peneva and Rudd (2015) “find little evidence that changes in labor costs have had a
material effect on price inflation in recent years, even for compensation measures where some
degree of pass through to prices still appears to be present”.
Many researchers argue that aggregate data may not be sufficiently informative about
the convexity of the wage and price Phillips Curves, especially when the Fed successfully

Email: anthony.murphy@dal.frb.org. The view expressed in the paper are my own, and not those of the Federal
Reserve Bank of Dallas or the Federal Reserve System.
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targeted inflation during the Great Moderation period. They suggest that U.S. regional or metro
data may be more informative, and many recent papers adopt this approach.
Two recent papers, which have been cited by Chair Yellen, convey a flavor of the recent
findings. Kumar and Orrenius (2016) use state level data to detect convexity in the wage Phillips
Curve. They find “strong evidence that the wage-price Phillips curve is nonlinear and convex;
declines in the unemployment rate below the average unemployment rate exert significantly
higher wage pressure than changes in the unemployment rate above the historical average.”.
The estimated wage Phillips curve is twice as steep when the unemployment rate is low than
when it is high. This means that the upward pressure on wages from a fall in the unemployment
rate is twice as large when the rate is low than when it is high.
Nalewaik (2016) uses long time series of aggregate data from the 1960s and a model
with different inflation regimes to jointly model U.S. wage and price inflation. In contrast to
Kumar and Orrenius (2016), he finds a relatively linear wage Phillips Curve, and a convex price
inflation Phillips Curve. He reports finding “a sharp steepening of the (price) Phillips curve after
labor market slack becomes sufficiently negative, so the effect of slack on inflation becomes
much larger after labor markets tighten beyond a certain point.”
3. Metro Level Data
Since it is difficult to identify convexity in the Phillips Curve using aggregate data
covering the Great Moderation period, I exploit the greater time series and cross section
variation in inflation and unemployment rates at the metro level. I use semi-annual core CPI
inflation (𝜋𝜋 𝑐𝑐 ) and unemployment (𝑢𝑢) data from the mid-1980’s for a panel of 27 large U.S.

metros. I also use quarterly data for about half of these metros. Inflation is measured as the
deviation of the metro level, year-on-year core CPI inflation rate from the long-term (10-year)
expected inflation rate in the Survey of Professional Forecasters (𝜋𝜋𝑚𝑚 − 𝜋𝜋� 𝑒𝑒 ). Labor market slack

is measured as the difference between the metro unemployment rate and the CBO’s estimate
of the natural rate of unemployment or NAIRU for the U.S. (𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚 − 𝑢𝑢𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 ).

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4. Models and Results
Inflation depends on expected long term inflation ( π e ), past inflation and lagged
measures of labor market slack and lagged changes in slack. I estimate a variety of Phillips
Curves with linear, linear spline and convex slack effects since theory does not specify the
functional form of the Phillips Curve when it is convex. In the spline specifications, the two
terms are um − u NRU and min(0, um − u NRU ) . In the non-linear specifications, convexity may be
captured by using ln(um / u NRU ) or ugapm / u as the slack terms.
Inter alia, I estimate a broader class of models, use higher frequency data and take
account of more factors than other researchers do. For example, heterogeneous dynamic panel
data models with multiple unobserved common factors are estimated. Some semi-annual
estimation results are presented and discussed in the Appendix.
First, I find that the price Phillips Curve is still “alive”, in the sense that labor market
slack is always economically and statistically significant. In addition, there is no compelling
evidence of a significant decline in the effect of slack on inflation in the metro-level dataset.
Second, the fit of convex Phillips Curves is sometimes better than the fit of linear Phillips
Curves. Third, despite this, the degree of convexity in the Phillips curve is modest, and is not
economically significant.
5. Does Convexity Matter
Two related ways – one informal, the other more formal - of assessing the importance
of the convexity of the Phillips Curve are considered. First, I check whether the estimated linear
and convex Phillips Curves are very far apart when slack is negative (the unemployment rate is
below the NAIRU)? The answer is no – the estimated linear and convex Phillips Curves are close
when slack is negative in the historically relevant range, i.e. - 0% to -2% in the metro panel, and
0% to -1% at the aggregate level. Three different estimated Phillips Curves are plotted in Figure
1 – a linear curve (the red line) and two convex curves (the blue and green lines). The
unemployment gap is measured on the horizontal axis and the deviation of inflation from long
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term expected inflation on the vertical axis. When unemployment is low, the unemployment
gap is negative and inflation is high. The rise in inflation is greater the more convex the Phillips
Curve. Generally, when unemployment is relatively low, we observe (negative) slack values
between 0 and -1%. Within this range, the differences in the inflation rates associated with the
linear and convex Phillips Curves is very small, so the effect of convexity is not economically
significant.
Second, I check whether the results of simulating an exogenous fall in slack in a simple,
three equation IS-PC-MR model differ significantly when the Phillips Curve is linear vs. when it is
convex? The dynamics of the IS curve are based on estimates from before the Great Recession.
The two Phillips curve are based on the quarterly linear and convex (slack = 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 / 𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 )

DCCE estimates. An inertial Taylor Rule is used, with inertia coefficient of 0.85 and equal

weights on the deviation of inflation from target and the unemployment gap. The NAIRU and
inflation target are assumed to fixed, and inflation expectations are either constant or slowly
adjusting. The results of simulating the effects of a temporary decline in the unemployment
rate suggest that the degree of convexity in the Phillips Curve is modest (Figure 2). IIn the
simulations, a short-term shock that reduces the unemployment rate by one percentage point
boosts core CPI inflation by 30 basis points (bps) when the Phillips Curve is linear, and less than
40 bps when it is convex. If inflation expectations adjust modestly, the effects might be 15 bps
higher. Similar results hold in more elaborate models.
Conclusion
The degree of convexity in the price Phillips Curve appears to be relatively small, and not
economically significant. Labor market slack is always economically and statistically significant.
Although the fit of convex Phillips Curves is sometimes better than the fit of linear curves, the
degree of convexity is modest.
References
Albuquerque, B., Baumann, U. (2017), “Will U.S. inflation awake from the dead? The role of
slack and non-linearities in the Phillips Curve, European Central Bank working paper no.
2001.
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Ball, L., Mazumder, S. (2011), “Inflation dynamics and the Great Recession”, Brookings Papers
on Economic Activity, 42(1), 337-405.
Chudik, A., Pesaran, M. H. (2015), “Common correlated effects estimation of heterogeneous
dynamic panel data models with weakly exogenous regressors”, Journal of Econometrics,
188 393-420.
Daly, M., Hobijn, B. (2014), “Downward nominal wage rigidities bend the Phillips Curve”,
Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking, 46, 51-93.
Detmeister, A., Babb, N. (2017), “Nonlinearities in the Phillips Curve for the United States”,
mimeo.
Donayre, L., Panovska, I. (2016), “Nonlinearities in the U.S. wage Phillips Curve”, Journal of
Macroeconomics, 48, 19-43.
Fallick, B., Lettau, M., Wascher, W. (2016), “Downward nominal wage rigidity in the United
States during and after the Great Recession”, Finance and Economics Discussion Series
2016-011, Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Fisher, R., Koenig, E. (2014), “Are we there yet? Assessing progress towards full employment
and price stability”, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Economic Letter, (9)13, 1-4.
Kumar, A., Orrenius, P. (2016), “A closer look at the Phillips curve using state-level data”,
Journal of Macroeconomics, 47(A), 84-102.
Laxton, D., Rose, D., Tambakis, D. (1998), “The U.S. Phillips curve: the case for asymmetry”,
Journal of Economic Dynamics & Control, 23, 1459-85.
Murphy, A. (2017), “Is the U.S. Phillips Curve Convex? Some Metro Level Evidence”, mimeo.
Nalewaik, J. (2016), “Non-linear Phillips curves with inflation regime switching”, Finance and
Economics Discussion Series 2016-078, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.
Peneva, E., Rudd, J. (2015), “The passthrough of labor costs to price inflation,” Finance and
Economics Discussion Series 2015-042. Washington: Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System.
Yellen, J. (2015), “Inflation Dynamics and Monetary Policy”, Philip Gamble Memorial Lecture,
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, September 24.

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Table 1: Recent Studies of the Wage Phillips Curve in the U.S
Study

Data

Main Model

Finding

Daly & Hobijn
(2014)

CPS y/y wage growth
data, 1986 to 2012

No model

Suggestive - Nominal
downward rigidities
increase in recessions;
convex PC

Fisher & Koenig
(2014)

Quarterly ECI wage &
salary growth, 1984 Q1 to
2014 Q2

Linear model with lagged
level and inverse of
unemployment rate

Strong - convex PC

Donayre &
Panovska (2016)

Quarterly aggregate data;
earnings of production &
non-supervisory workers;
1965-1984

Three regime threshold
regression model
depending on
unemployment rate

Strong - convex PC
with significantly
different regime
dynamics

Kumar &
Orrenius (2016)

Annual state level CPS
ORG average hourly
wage, 1982 to 2013

Fixed effects panel model
with linear unemployment
spline

Strong - convex PC

Nalewaik (2016)

Annual data, core PCE
inflation and growth in
non-farm business sector
hourly compensation,
1961 to 2015

Two equation, two regime
Markov Switching model
with squared low
unemployment rate term;
one regime is nonstationary

Weak - limited
convexity in wage PC;

Notes: ECI = employment cost index, PC = Phillips Curve and y/y = year-over year. Additional
evidence of downward nominal ECI wage rigidity is provided by Fallick, Lettau and Wascher
(2016).

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Table 2: Recent Studies of the Price Phillips Curve in the U.S.
Study

Data and Sample

Main Model

Finding

Laxton, Rose &
Tambakis (1999)

Quarterly CPI inflation,
1968 Q1 to 1997 Q1

Two equation model; PC
with time varying
coefficient on convex
unemployment gap term
and random walk NRU

Weak - convex PC, but
fit only marginally
better than for linear
model

Ball & Mazumder
(2011)

Quarterly data, y/y
headline and core
(median) CPI, 1960q1

Linear model where slope
of PC varies with level
and/or variance of
inflation

Mixed - prefer model
with varying slope to
convex PC model; fit of
linear and convex PC
models similar

Nalewaik (2016)

Annual data, core PCE
inflation and growth in
non-farm business
sector hourly
compensation, 1961 to
2015

Two equation, two
regime Markov Switching
model with squared low
unemployment rate term;
one regime is nonstationary

Strong - convex PC

Albuquerque &
Baumann (2017)

Quarterly data, y/y PCE
inflation, 1992 Q1 –
2015 Q1

Time varying parameter
model using
unemployment gap and
labor market tracking
index etc.

Weak - prefer time
varying parameter to
convex PC model; fit of
linear and convex PC
models similar.

Detmeister & Babb
(2017)

Annual metro data, core
CPI inflation, 1984 to
2016

Fixed effects panel model

Weak - some convexity
but not economically
significant

Murphy (2017)

Sem-annual and
quarterly metro data,
core CPI inflation, 1984
to 2016

Fixed effects and dynamic
correlated common
effects panel models.

Weak - some convexity
but not economically
significant

Notes: See Table 1.

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Figure 1: Is the Convexity of the Phillips Curve Important?

Source: Murphy (2017)

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Figure 2: Simulated Effects of a Temporary Fall in the Unemployment Rate
(a) Time Path of the Unemployment Rate

(b) Time Path of Inflation – Linear (Blue Line) and Convex (Red Line) Phillips Curves

Note: Long-term inflation expectations are anchored at 2.3%. Source: Murphy (2017).

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Appendix: Some Econometric Results
Data and Models
The effect of labor market slack on inflation are identified using the using time series and
cross-section variation in unemployment and core CPI inflation rates at the metro level. The
models are formulated in term of the deviations of inflation from survey based, long run
expected inflation and the deviation of the unemployment rate from the NAIRU.
•
•
•

𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
= 𝜋𝜋𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
− 𝜋𝜋�𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒 = Devistion of core year-on-year CPI inflation in metro m from longterm expected inflation in the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF).
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 = 𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 − 𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 = Unemployment gap, the deviation from the CBO’s natural
rate of unemployment or NAIRU.
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 = 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚�0, 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 � = Negative unemployment gap (i.e. tight labor market).

Models with linear, linear spline and convex labor market slack effects estimate. The base
linear spline model is:
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
= 𝛽𝛽0 + 𝛽𝛽1 𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−1
+ 𝛽𝛽2 𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2
+ 𝛽𝛽3 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 + 𝛽𝛽4 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 + 𝛽𝛽5 ∆𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 + 𝑣𝑣𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡

where:

𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
= 𝜋𝜋𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
− 𝜋𝜋�𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑒 = Devistion of core year-on-year CPI inflation in metro m from long-term
expected inflation in the Survey of Professional Forecasters (SPF).
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 = 𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 − 𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 = Unemployment gap, the deviation from the CBO’s natural rate of
unemployment or NAIRU.
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 = 𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚𝑚�0, 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 � = Negative unemployment gap (i.e. tight labor market).

The model is an expectations augmented Phillips Curve, as opposed to a New Keynesian Phillips
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

Curve, with priors: 𝛽𝛽3 < 0, 𝛽𝛽4 < 0 �𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠𝑠 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 < 0� 𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎 𝛽𝛽5 < 0. The data are I(0), and

the choice of lags is based on limited pre-searching. Other convex specifications for the effect
𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛𝑛

of slack use 𝑢𝑢𝑔𝑔𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑎𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 and 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 squared as in Nalewaik (2016), 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 / 𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 as in Debelle
and Vickery (1998), or log slack, 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙(𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡 /𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 ).

The Phillips Curves are estimated using pooled OLS, one and two-way fixed effects and

dynamic common correlated effects (DCCE) estimators. The DCCE estimator (Chudik and
Pesaran, 2015) is the most general one and has many advantages:
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑐𝑟𝑟𝑟𝑟
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
= 𝛽𝛽𝑚𝑚,0 + 𝛽𝛽𝑚𝑚,1 𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−1
+ 𝛽𝛽𝑚𝑚,2 𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
+ 𝛽𝛽𝑚𝑚,3 (𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 /𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 ) + ∑𝑗𝑗 𝛾𝛾𝑚𝑚,𝑗𝑗 𝑓𝑓𝑗𝑗,𝑡𝑡 +𝑣𝑣𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡

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It provides consistent estimates of the mean effects in dynamic, heterogeneous panel data
models with weakly exogenous variables and cross section dependence. The cross section
dependence is modelled in a flexible way (as unobserved factors 𝑓𝑓𝑗𝑗,𝑡𝑡 ), which are “partialed out”

by adding current and lagged cross section averages of the dependent regressors and other
related covariates to the individual equations.

Some representative regression results are set out in Table A. Consider the linear spline
results initially. The pooled OLS and FE results are very similar - inflation is highly persistent;
lagged labor market slack and changes in slack are economically and statistically significant. The
linear spline term in lagged slack is significant suggesting that the Phillips Curve is convex.
However, the pooled OLS and FE results do not account of any common omitted factors,
such as imported core goods inflation, driving metro-level inflation. The DCCE results, which do,
are rather different. Inflation is not as persistent and lagged labor market slack, but not the
lagged change in slack, is significant. The spline term is insignificant, which suggests that the
Phillips Curve is linear. Other convex specifications need to be examined before reaching this
conclusion. The fit of the two convex models is about the same as that of the linear / linear
spline models.
Similar results are obtained using quarterly data for approx. 13 metros and in subsamples. Lagged labor market slack is always economically and statistically significant. The
linear spline term is also insignificant in the DCCE results. Convex Phillips Curve models fit
marginally better.
The effects of slack are fairly stable in the sub-samples. Changes in lagged slack are also
statistically significant in the quarterly models, but are hard to identify in the sub-samples.
Results hold up to various robustness checks – breaks in CPS-based unemployment series,
threshold effects, alternative measures of expected inflation etc.

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Table A: Linear Spline and Convex Phillips Curve Specifications
𝑐𝑐
𝑐𝑐
Dependent Variable: 𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
= 𝜋𝜋𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡
− 𝜋𝜋�𝑡𝑡 . Sample: 24 to 27 Metros, 1985 or 1986 H1 to 2016 H2 (Semi-Annual).

Regressors

𝑐𝑐
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−1
𝑐𝑐
𝜋𝜋�𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2

𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁
𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2

∆𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2

𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 /𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2
𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁
ln�𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2 ⁄𝑢𝑢𝑡𝑡−2
�

∆ ln 𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚,𝑡𝑡−2

Metro Fixed effects
Adjusted R2
SE
No of Observations

Linear Spline in 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚

OLS

FE

DCCE

0.867*** 0.836*** 0.670***
(0.027) (0.025) (0.032)
-0.244*** -0.256*** -0.331***
(0.023) (0.022) (0.030)
-0.017 -0.032** -0.319***
(0.012) (0.012) (0.053)
-0.195*** -0.235***
(0.036) (0.039)
-0.172*** -0.163***
(0.029) (0.021)
0.621
0.671
1679

Yes
0.609
0.661
1679

0.620
0.607
1599

Slack = 𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚 /𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚

OLS

FE

DCCE

0.866*** 0.835*** 0.679***
(0.027) (0.025) (0.033)
-0.244*** -0.256*** -0.334***
(0.024) (0.022) (0.024)
-0.471*** -0.633*** -1.587***
(0.069) (0.064) (0.275)
-0.170*** -0.160***
(0.030) (0.021)
-0.170*** -0.160***
(0.030) (0.021)
-0.471*** -0.633*** -1.587***
(0.069) (0.064) (0.275)
0.620
0.672
1679

Yes
0.607
0.662
1679

0.607
0.612
1599

Slack = 𝑙𝑙𝑙𝑙(𝑢𝑢𝑚𝑚 /𝑢𝑢𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁𝑁 )

OLS

FE

DCCE

0.872*** 0.843*** 0.672***
(0.028) (0.025) (0.032)
-0.241*** -0.252*** -0.336***
(0.024) (0.023) (0.027)
-

-0.423*** -0.564*** -1.763***
(0.072) (0.065) (0.275)
-1.093*** -1.027***
(0.206) (0.159)
0.618
0.674
1679

Yes
0.604
0.665
1679

0.615
0.608
1599

Notes: Standard errors are shown in parentheses. The superscripts *, ** and *** denote significance at the 10%, 5% and 1% levels respectively.
FE denotes fixed effects estimators. The dynamic correlated common effects (DCCE) estimates use three lags of the cross section averages.
Source: Murphy (2017).
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