Data and Code for: Uncertainty Shocks, Adjustment Costs and Firm Beliefs - Evidence From a Representative Survey

Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Andreas Dibiasi, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano; Heiner Mikosch, ETH Zurich; Samad Sarferaz, ETH Zurich

Version: View help for Version V1

Name	File Type	Size	Last Modified
replication files			06/04/2024 01:38:PM

Project Citation:

Dibiasi, Andreas, Mikosch, Heiner, and Sarferaz, Samad. Data and Code for: Uncertainty Shocks, Adjustment Costs and Firm Beliefs - Evidence From a Representative Survey. Nashville, TN: American Economic Association [publisher], 2025. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2025-06-06. https://doi.org/10.3886/E194701V1

Project Description

Summary: This paper studies the dynamic effects of an uncertainty shock on firm expectations. We conduct a survey that confronts managers from a representative firm sample with a model-consistent uncertainty shock scenario. An exogenous increase in uncertainty significantly reduces managers' expected investment, employment and production in the short and mid run. We collect novel direct firm-level measures for different types of capital and labor adjustment costs. Adjustment costs vary strongly across types and sectors. They help explain firms’ reactions to the shock, which provides evidence for the relevance of real-options channels. We compare the findings to DSGE and VAR results.

Scope of Project

Subject Terms: Uncertainty; Survey; Vignette; Expectations; Investment; Production; Capital irreversibility; Labor adjustment costs

JEL Classification:
      C83 Survey Methods; Sampling Methods
      D83 Search; Learning; Information and Knowledge; Communication; Belief; Unawareness
      D84 Expectations; Speculations
      E22 Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
      E23 Macroeconomics: Production
      E24 Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity

Geographic Coverage: Switzerland

Time Period(s): 1/2017 – 12/2018 (First half year 2017, Second half year 2017, First half year 2018, Second half year 2018)

Collection Date(s): 2/20/2017 – 6/29/2017

Universe: The universe of firms in Switzerland.

Data Type(s): survey data

Methodology

Response Rate: 42%

Data Source: Special survey amended to the Spring wave of the KOF Investment Survey.

Collection Mode(s): web-based survey

Unit(s) of Observation: firm

Geographic Unit: Switzerland

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Published Versions

V1 [2025-06-06]

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