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Increasing Returns to Scale and Welfare: Ranking the Multiple Deterministic Equilibria

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Author Info
Mauro Bambi () (CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research at ETH Zurich, Switzerland)
Aurélien Saïdi (Economix, Université Paris X, Nanterre)

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Abstract

We consider a real business cycle model with a productive externality and an aggregate non- convex technology set µa la Benhabib and Farmer embodying capacity utilization, which exhibits indeterminacy of the steady state and multiplicity of deterministic equilibria under plausible values of the increasing returns to scale. The aim of the paper is to rank these different equilibria according to the initial value of consumption using both a linear-quadratic approximation, extensively explained by Benigno and Woodford [2006a, 2006b], and simulation methods. We study the implications of such a ranking in terms of smoothness of the welfare-maximizing trajectory and show that the welfare- maximizing consumption and labor paths are all the smoother since the level of increasing returns is low. At last, we show that this solution provides a good benchmark for judging the desirability of the stabilization policy proposed by Guo and Lansing [1997].

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by CER-ETH - Center of Economic Research (CER-ETH) at ETH Zurich in its series CER-ETH Economics working paper series with number 08/99.

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Length: 21 pages
Date of creation: Oct 2008
Date of revision:
Handle: RePEc:eth:wpswif:08-99

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Related research
Keywords: Increasing returns; Local indeterminacy; Welfare analysis; Numerical Methods;

Find related papers by JEL classification:
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
E4 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates
H61 - Public Economics - - National Budget, Deficit, and Debt - - - Budget; Budget Systems
O42 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Monetary Growth Models
O47 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - Measurement of Economic Growth; Aggregate Productivity; Cross-Country Output Convergence

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  1. Benhabib Jess & Farmer Roger E. A., 1994. "Indeterminacy and Increasing Returns," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 19-41, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  2. Benhabib, Jess & Farmer, Roger E.A., 1996. "Indeterminacy and Sector-Specific Externalities," Working Papers 96-12, C.V. Starr Center for Applied Economics, New York University. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Pierpaolo Benigno & Michael Woodford, 2006. "Linear-quadratic approximation of optimal policy problems," Discussion Papers 0607-02, Columbia University, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. Hansen, Gary D., 1985. "Indivisible labor and the business cycle," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(3), pages 309-327, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Russell, Thomas & Zecevic, Aleksandar, 2000. "Indeterminate growth paths and stability," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 39-62, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Greenwood, Jeremy & Hercowitz, Zvi & Huffman, Gregory W, 1988. "Investment, Capacity Utilization, and the Real Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 78(3), pages 402-17, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Russell, Thomas & Zecevic, Aleksandar, 1998. "Lyapunov stability, regions of attraction, and indeterminate growth paths," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 319-324, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. M. Ishaq Nadiri & Ingmar R. Prucha, 1997. "Estimation of the Depreciation Rate of Physical and R&D Capital in the U.S. Total Manufacturing Sector," NBER Working Papers 4591, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Guo, Jang-Ting & Lansing, Kevin J., 1998. "Indeterminacy and Stabilization Policy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 481-490, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Schmitt-Grohe, Stephanie & Uribe, Martin, 2004. "Solving dynamic general equilibrium models using a second-order approximation to the policy function," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 755-775, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Christiano, Lawrence J. & G. Harrison, Sharon, 1999. "Chaos, sunspots and automatic stabilizers," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 3-31, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  12. Kimberly Bayard & Charles Gilbert, 2008. "Industrial production and capacity utilization: the 2008 annual revision," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), issue Aug, pages A41-A60. [Downloadable!]
  13. Magill, Michael J. P., 1977. "A local analysis of N-sector capital accumulation under uncertainty," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 15(1), pages 211-219, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Benigno, Pierpaolo & Woodford, Michael, 2006. "Optimal taxation in an RBC model: A linear-quadratic approach," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 30(9-10), pages 1445-1489. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
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