The Return to Capital and the Business Cycle
Abstract
We measure the return to capital directly from the NIPA and BEA data and examine the return implications of the real business cycle model. We construct a quarterly time series of the after-tax return to business capital. Its volatility is considerably smaller than that of S&P 500 returns. The standard business cycle model captures almost 50% of the volatility in the return to capital (relative to the volatility of output). We consider several departures from the benchmark model; the most promising is one with stochastic taxes which captures nearly 80% of the relative volatility in the return to capital.Download Info
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.Bibliographic Info
Paper provided by Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara in its series University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series with number qt8d5824r7.Length:
Date of creation: 01 May 2007
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsbec:qt8d5824r7
Contact details of provider:
Postal: 2127 North Hall, Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9210
Phone: (805) 893-3670
Fax: (805) 893-8830
Web page: http://www.escholarship.org/repec/ucsbecon_dwp/
More information through EDIRC
Related research
Keywords: return to capital; volatility; real business cycles;Other versions of this item:
- Paul Gomme & B. Ravikumar & Peter Rupert, 2011. "The Return to Capital and the Business Cycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(2), pages 262-278, April.
- Paul Gomme & B. Ravikumar & Peter Rupert, 2008. "The Return to Capital and the Business Cycle," Working Papers 08002, Concordia University, Department of Economics, revised 23 Sep 2010.
- Paul Gomme & B. Ravikumar & Peter Rupert, 2006. "The return to capital and the business cycle," Working Paper 0603, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
- Paul Gomme & B. Ravikumar & Peter Rupert, 2006. "The Return to Capital and the Business Cycle," 2006 Meeting Papers 801, Society for Economic Dynamics.
- E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
References
References listed on IDEASPlease report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
- Edward C. Prescott, 1986.
"Theory ahead of business cycle measurement,"
Quarterly Review,
Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, issue Fall, pages 9-22.
- Prescott, Edward C., 1986. "Theory ahead of business-cycle measurement," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 25(1), pages 11-44, January.
- Edward C. Prescott, 1986. "Theory ahead of business cycle measurement," Staff Report 102, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Greenwood, J. & Hercowitz, Z., 1991.
"The Allocation of Capital and Time Over the Business Cycle,"
RCER Working Papers
268, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
- Greenwood, Jeremy & Hercowitz, Zvi, 1991. "The Allocation of Capital and Time over the Business Cycle," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(6), pages 1188-214, December.
- Greenwood, J. & Hercowitz, Z., 1991. "The Allocation of Capital and Time Over the Business Cycles," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 9104, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
- Klein, Paul, 2000. "Using the generalized Schur form to solve a multivariate linear rational expectations model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(10), pages 1405-1423, September.
- Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2003.
"Average Debt and Equity Returns: Puzzling?,"
Levine's Working Paper Archive
506439000000000367, David K. Levine.
- Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2003. "Average Debt and Equity Returns: Puzzling?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 93(2), pages 392-397, May.
- Ellen R. McGrattan & Edward C. Prescott, 2003. "Average debt and equity returns: puzzling?," Staff Report 313, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Anton Braun, R., 1994. "Tax disturbances and real economic activity in the postwar United States," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 441-462, June.
- Hansen, Gary D., 1985.
"Indivisible labor and the business cycle,"
Journal of Monetary Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 309-327, November.
- Gary Hansen, 2010. "Indivisible Labor and the Business Cycle," Levine's Working Paper Archive 233, David K. Levine.
- David Carey & Harry Tchilinguirian, 2000. "Average Effective Tax Rates on Capital, Labour and Consumption," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 258, OECD Publishing.
- Paul Gomme & Finn E. Kydland & Peter Rupert, 2001.
"Home Production Meets Time to Build,"
Journal of Political Economy,
University of Chicago Press, vol. 109(5), pages 1115-1131, October.
- Paul Gomme & Finn Kydland & Peter Rupert, 2000. "Home production meets time-to-build," Working Paper 0007R, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
- Jess Benhabib & Richard Rogerson & Randall Wright, 1991.
"Homework in macroeconomics: household production and aggregate fluctuations,"
Staff Report
135, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Benhabib, Jess & Rogerson, Richard & Wright, Randall, 1991. "Homework in Macroeconomics: Household Production and Aggregate Fluctuations," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(6), pages 1166-87, December.
- Mendoza, Enrique G. & Razin, Assaf & Tesar, Linda L., 1994.
"Effective tax rates in macroeconomics: Cross-country estimates of tax rates on factor incomes and consumption,"
Journal of Monetary Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 34(3), pages 297-323, December.
- Enrique G. Mendoza & Assaf Razin & Linda L. Tesar, 1995. "Effective Tax Rates in Macroeconomics: Cross-Country Estimates of Tax Rates on Factor Incomes and Consumption," NBER Working Papers 4864, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- McGrattan, Ellen R & Rogerson, Richard & Wright, Randall, 1997.
"An Equilibrium Model of the Business Cycle with Household Production and Fiscal Policy,"
International Economic Review,
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 38(2), pages 267-90, May.
- Ellen McGrattan & Richard Rogerson & Randall Wright, 1995. "An equilibrium model of the business cycle with household production and fiscal policy," Staff Report 191, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Casey B. Mulligan, 2002. "Capital, Interest, and Aggregate Intertemporal Substitution," NBER Working Papers 9373, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Peter Rupert & Richard Rogerson & Randall Wright, 1994.
"Estimating substitution elasticities in household production models,"
Staff Report
186, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Rupert, Peter & Rogerson, Richard & Wright, Randall, 1995. "Estimating Substitution Elasticities in Household Production Models," Economic Theory, Springer, vol. 6(1), pages 179-93, June.
- Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1982.
"Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations,"
Econometrica,
Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1345-70, November.
- Finn E. Kydland & Edward C. Prescott, 1982. "Web interface for "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations"," QM&RBC Codes 4a, Quantitative Macroeconomics & Real Business Cycles.
- Finn E. Kydland & Edward C. Prescott, 1982. "Executable program for "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations"," QM&RBC Codes 4, Quantitative Macroeconomics & Real Business Cycles.
- Gomme, Paul & Klein, Paul, 2011.
"Second-order approximation of dynamic models without the use of tensors,"
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control,
Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 604-615, April.
- Paul Gomme & Paul Klein, 2009. "Second-order approximation of dynamic models without the use of tensors," Working Papers 09004, Concordia University, Department of Economics, revised 28 Apr 2010.
- Rogerson, Richard, 1988.
"Indivisible labor, lotteries and equilibrium,"
Journal of Monetary Economics,
Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 3-16, January.
- Richard Rogerson, 2010. "Indivisible Labor, Lotteries and Equilibrium," Levine's Working Paper Archive 250, David K. Levine.
- Greenwood, J. & Rogerson, R. & Wright, R., 1993. "Household Production in Real Business Cycle Thoery," RCER Working Papers 347, University of Rochester - Center for Economic Research (RCER).
- Ellen R. McGrattan, 1991.
"The macroeconomic effects of distortionary taxation,"
Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics
37, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- McGrattan, Ellen R., 1994. "The macroeconomic effects of distortionary taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 573-601, June.
- Lawrence J. Christiano & Michele Boldrin & Jonas D. M. Fisher, 2001.
"Habit Persistence, Asset Returns, and the Business Cycle,"
American Economic Review,
American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 149-166, March.
- Michele Boldrin & Lawrence J. Christiano & Jonas D.M. Fisher, 1999. "Habit persistence, asset returns and the business cycles," Working Paper Series WP-99-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
- Michele Boldrin & Lawrence J. Christiano & Jonas D. M. Fisher, 2000. "Habit persistence, asset returns and the business cycle," Staff Report 280, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Jeremy Greenwood & Zvi Hercowitz & Per Krusell, 1992.
"Macroeconomic implications of investment-specific technological change,"
Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics
76, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
- Hercowitz, Z., 1992. "Macroeconomic Implication of Investment-Specific Technological Change," Papers 13-92, Tel Aviv - the Sackler Institute of Economic Studies.
- Greenwood, J. & Hercowitz, Z. & Krusell, P., 1992. "Macroeconomic Implications of Investment-Specific Technological Change," Papers 527, Stockholm - International Economic Studies.
- Jermann, Urban J., 1998. "Asset pricing in production economies," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(2), pages 257-275, April.
- Paul Gomme & Peter Rupert, 2005.
"Theory, measurement, and calibration of macroeconomic models,"
Working Paper
0505, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
- Gomme, Paul & Rupert, Peter, 2007. "Theory, measurement and calibration of macroeconomic models," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 460-497, March.
- James M. Poterba, 1999.
"The Rate of Return to Corporate Capital and Factor Shares: New EstimatesUsing Revised National Income Accounts and Capital Stock Data,"
NBER Working Papers
6263, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Poterba, James M., 1998. "The rate of return to corporate capital and factor shares: new estimates using revised national income accounts and capital stock data," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 211-246, June.
Citations
Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.Cited by:
- S. Boragan Aruoba & Christopher J. Waller & Randall Wright, 2009. "Money and capital: a quantitative analysis," Working Papers 2009-031, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
- Julia K. Thomas & Aubhik Khan, 2010.
"Credit Shocks and Aggregate Fluctuations in an Economy with Production Heterogeneity,"
2010 Meeting Papers
801, Society for Economic Dynamics.
- Aubhik Khan & Julia K. Thomas, 2011. "Credit Shocks and Aggregate Fluctuations in an Economy with Production Heterogeneity," NBER Working Papers 17311, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Mimir, Yasin, 2012.
"Financial intermediaries, credit Shocks and business cycles,"
MPRA Paper
39648, University Library of Munich, Germany.
- Yasin Mimir, 2013. "Financial Intermediaries, Credit Shocks and Business Cycles," Working Papers 1313, Research and Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey.
- Kydland, Finn & Rupert, Peter & Sustek, Roman, 2012.
"Housing Dynamics over the Business Cycle,"
University of California at Santa Barbara, Economics Working Paper Series
qt7bn5k73m, Department of Economics, UC Santa Barbara.
- Finn E. Kydland & Peter Rupert & Roman Sustek, 2012. "Housing Dynamics over the Business Cycle," NBER Working Papers 18432, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
- Claudio Campanale & Gian Luca Clementi & Rui Castro, 2008.
"Asset Pricing in a General Equilibrium Production Economy with Chew-Dekel Risk Preferences,"
Working Papers. Serie AD
2008-14, Instituto Valenciano de Investigaciones Económicas, S.A. (Ivie).
- Rui Castro & Claudio Campanale & Gian Luca Clementi, 2007. "Asset Pricing in a General Equilibrium Production Economy with Chew-Dekel Risk Preferences," 2007 Meeting Papers 503, Society for Economic Dynamics.
- CAMPANALE, Claudio & CASTRO, Rui & CLEMENTI, Gian Luca, 2009.
"Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with Chew-Dekel Preferences,"
Cahiers de recherche
10-2009, Centre interuniversitaire de recherche en économie quantitative, CIREQ.
- Claudio Campanale & Rui Castro & Gian Luca Clementi, 2010. "Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with Chew-Dekel Preferences," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(2), pages 379-402, April.
- Claudio Campanale & Rui Castro & Gian Luca Clementi, 2007. "Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with Chew-Dekel Preferences," Working Papers 07-12, New York University, Leonard N. Stern School of Business, Department of Economics.
- Claudio Campanale & Rui Castro & Gian Luca Clementi, 2007. "Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with ChewÐDekel Preferences," Working Paper Series 07-07, The Rimini Centre for Economic Analysis, revised Jul 2007.
- CAMPANALE, Claudio & CASTRO, Rui & CLEMENTI, Gian Luca, 2009. "Asset Pricing in a Production Economy with Chew–Dekel Preferences," Cahiers de recherche 2009-09, Universite de Montreal, Departement de sciences economiques.
- Morris A. Davis & Robert F. Martin, 2008.
"Housing, home production, and the equity and value premium puzzles,"
International Finance Discussion Papers
931, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
- Davis, Morris A. & Martin, Robert F., 2009. "Housing, home production, and the equity- and value-premium puzzles," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 81-91, June.
- Parantap Basu & Max Gillman & Joseph Pearlman, 2010.
"Inflation, Human Capital and Tobin's q,"
IEHAS Discussion Papers
1017, Institute of Economics, Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
- Basu, Parantap & Gillman, Max & Pearlman, Joseph, 2012. "Inflation, human capital and Tobin's q," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 36(7), pages 1057-1074.
- Parantap Basu & Max Gillman & Joseph Pearlman, 2009. " Inflation, Human Capital and Tobin's q," CDMA Conference Paper Series 0904, Centre for Dynamic Macroeconomic Analysis.
- Kegiang Hou & Alok Johri, 2013. "Intangible Capital and the Excess Volatility of Aggregate Profits," Department of Economics Working Papers 2013-04, McMaster University.
- Enchuan Shao & Pedro Silos, 2008. "Firm entry and labor market dynamics," Working Paper 2008-17, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
Lists
This item is featured on the following reading lists or Wikipedia pages:Statistics
Access and download statisticsCorrections
When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cdl:ucsbec:qt8d5824r7For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (Lisa Schiff).
If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.
If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.
If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.
If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.
Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

