Worked hours as observable

[jpfeifer]

There are two issues here:

1. You need to map aggregate hours into a per capita or per worker variable. See

On using empirical total population data

The h_t in my example is a very specific model for illustrative purposes where labor is fixed. Obviously that is not true in reality. DSGE models in the end almost always only model hours. But if you start with a neoclassical growth model, then you usually start with hours per person multiplied by the number of people and detrend from there. Which population concept you use for per capita/per worker values again depends on the model at hand. Total population is usually appropriate if the labor …

2. The second issue is the scaling. The time endowment in most models is arbitrary. So typically percentage deviations from the mean or growth rates are used, which both do not rely on the exact level. Here, I don’t see how having the same base year for indices would help.