Staff Reports
Firm Dynamics and Random Search over the Business Cycle
Number 1069
August 2023 Revised July 2025

JEL classification: E3, J63, J64

Authors: Richard Audoly

I build a tractable random search model with firm dynamics, on-the-job search, and aggregate shocks. Multi-worker firms make recruitment decisions, choose whether to enter or exit the market, and design wage contracts. Tractability is obtained by showing that, under a set of assumptions on the recruitment technology, the decisions of workers and firms depend on the firms’ current productivity. I confront the model to salient business cycle moments on the reallocation of workers across the firm productivity distribution derived from firm-level data that the model successfully replicates. I use this framework to quantify the drivers of worker reallocation over the post-war business cycle in Britain.

Full Article
Author Disclosure Statement(s)
Richard Audoly
The author declares that he has no relevant or material financial interests that relate to the research described in this paper. Prior to circulation, this paper was reviewed in accordance with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York review policy, available at https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/staff_reports/index.html.
Suggested Citation:
Audoly, Richard. 2023. “Firm Dynamics and Random Search over the Business Cycle.” Federal Reserve Bank of New York Staff Reports, no. 1069, August. https://doi.org/10.59576/sr.1069

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