22. An OLG Model with Labor-Leisure Choice

In this section we solve for an equilibrium using an overlapping generations (OLG) model. This model specifically models inter-cohort heterogeneity, i.e., the model allows for different behavior of young and old indivudals.

The model has the following components:

  • Preferences

  • Technology

  • Government

  • Equilibrium

22.1. Preferences

  • Agents live for 2 periods: young and old

  • They value consumption when young \(c_y\), leisure when young \(1-l\) and consumption when old \(c_o\)

  • Their preferences are given via utility functions: \(u_t(c_t)\)

  • Agents discount time with factor \(\beta\)

  • Their life-time utility is:

\(V(c_y, l,c_o) = u(c_y,l) + \beta \times u(c_o)\)

22.2. Technology

  • Firms produce output \(Y\) using input capital \(K\) and labor \(L\):

\(Y(K,L) = A \times K^{0.3} \times L^{0.7}\)

22.3. Government

  • The government collects lump sum taxes from households \(\tau_{Lump}\), taxes on labor \(\tau_L\) and capital \(\tau_K\)

  • The government pays for gov’t consumption \(G\) and transfers to households T_y and \(T_o\)

\(G + T_y + T_o = L \times \tau_L + K \times \tau_K + \tau_{Lump}\)

22.4. Household Problem

  • HHs maximize \(V(c_y,l,c_o)\) subject to their budget constraint in each period

\(c_y + s = w l + T_y\) \(c_o = R s + T_o\)

22.5. Equilibrium Definition

  • Given sequences of

  • prices \(\left\{w_t, R_t \right\}\)

  • government policies \(\left\{\tau_L, \tau_K, \tau_{Lump} \right\}\) and equilibrium is defined as an allocation of:

  • sequences of \(\left\{c_{y,t},l_t,c_{o,t},s_t\right\}\) so that

  • the HH max problem is solved

  • the firm maximization problem is solve

  • the gov’t budget constraint clears

22.6. Functional Forms and Solutions

  • Preferences are given as: \(u(c_y,l) = log(c_y)+log(l)\) and \(u(c_o)=log(c_o)\)

  • We can either set up a Lagrangian with two constraints or simply substitute consumption out of the utilities using the BC.

  • We follow the second approach, since the form of the utility functions guarantees interior solutions

  • Therefor we don’t have to worry about corner solutions a la Kuhn-Tucker

22.7. Substitute in Preferences

\(max_s log(w l + T_y - s) + log(1-l) + \beta log(R s + T_o)\)

  • This is now a function in 2 choice variables \(s\) and labor \(l\)

  • Derive this function w.r.t. \(s\) and labor \(l\)

\(\frac{\partial V}{\partial s}: \frac{1}{w l + T_y - s} = \frac{\beta R}{R s + T_o}\)

\(\frac{\partial V}{\partial l}: \frac{w}{w l + T_y - s} = \frac{1}{1-l}\)

22.8. Solve for Optimal \(s^*\) and \(l^*\)