摘要：What role does labor play in a firm’s market value? We explore this question
using a production-based asset pricing model with frictions in the adjustment of
both capital and labor. We posit that hiring of labor is akin to investment in
capital and that the two interact, with the interaction being a crucial
determinant of the time series behavior of market value. We use aggregate U.S.
corporate sector data to estimate firms' optimal hiring and investment decisions
and the consequences for firms' value. The model generates a good fit of the
data. We decompose the estimated market value, thereby quantifying the link
between firms' value and gross hiring flows, employment, gross investment flows,
and physical capital. We find that a conventional specification -- quadratic
adjustment costs for capital and no hiring costs -- performs poorly. Hiring and
investment flows, unlike employment and capital stocks, are volatile and both
are essential to account for market value volatility. A key result is that
firms' value embodies the value of hiring and investment over and above the
capital stock.
