Imperfect Intersectoral Labor Mobility and Monetary Shocks in a Small Open Economy

Abstract

In this paper, we model the assumption of imperfect labor mobility across sectors in the New Open-Economy Macroeconomics framework to assess its impact on output, inflation, and welfare. Following a permanent home monetary expansion in a small open economy, we find that the above-mentioned assumption leads to: (i) less expansionary effects on (traded) output in the short term, although also less contractionary in the long term; (ii) lower short-term inflation but higher in the long term; and (iii) less intertemporal welfare, with even a ‘beggar thyself’ problem being possible.