Mark Bils is a macroeconomist

Macroeconomics

Macroeconomics is a branch of economics dealing with the performance, structure, behavior, and decision-making of the whole economy. This includes a national, regional, or global economy...

 at the University of Rochester

University of Rochester

The University of Rochester is a private, nonsectarian, research university in Rochester, New York, United States. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The university has six schools and various interdisciplinary programs.The...

. Bils obtained his PhD in economics from MIT in 1985 and BA in economics from Ohio State University in 1979. He has taught at the University of Chicago GSB and is currently professor and chair of the Department of Economics at the University of Rochester.

In 1987, Bils published The Cyclical Behavior of Marginal Cost and Price in the American Economic Review

American Economic Review

The American Economic Review is a peer-reviewed academic journal of economics publishing seven issues annually by the American Economic Association. First published in 1911, it is considered one of the most prestigious journals in the field. The current editor-in-chief is Penny Goldberg . The...

 where he argued that marginal cost

Marginal cost

In economics and finance, marginal cost is the change in total cost that arises when the quantity produced changes by one unit. That is, it is the cost of producing one more unit of a good...

 is procyclical

Procyclical

Procyclical is a term used in economics to describe how an economic quantity is related to economic fluctuations. It is the opposite of countercyclical. However, it has more than one meaning.-Meaning in business cycle theory:...

. This is driven from the counterintuitive

Counterintuitive

The word "counterintuitive" literally means counter to intuition, and so it essentially means that something does not seem right or correct.A counterintuitive proposition is one that does not seem likely to be true when assessed using intuition or gut feelings...

 fact that employment

Employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as:- Employee :...

 is high when wages are high. Thus, Bils argues, an increase untrained labor must increase marginal costs (in the same way an increase in demand

Demand

- Economics :*Demand , the desire to own something and the ability to pay for it*Demand curve, a graphic representation of a demand schedule*Demand deposit, the money in checking accounts...

increases wages). He is in the top 5% of most cited economists.