Can the Mortensen-Pissarides matching model match the business-cycle facts?

We examine whether the Mortensen-Pissarides matching model can account for the business-cycle facts on employment, job creation, and job destruction. A novel feature of our analysis is its emphasis on the reduced-form implications of the matching model. Our main finding is that the model can account for the business-cycle facts, but only if the average duration of a nonemployment spell is relatively high - about 9 months or longer.