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General Equilibrium and Business Cycles

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Fischer Black
Abstract

The general equilibrium models in this paper, with complete markets, can give the major features of business cycles. The models include real investment, but information is costless and is available to everyone at the same time. Fluctuations in the match between resources and wants across many sectors create major fluctuations in output and unemployment, because moving resources from one sector to another is costly. Fluctuations in the demand for the services of durable goods causes much larger fluctuations in the output of durables, and causes unemployment that takes the form of temporary layoffs. Since specialized factors cooperate in producing goods and services, it makes sense to lay people off in groups rather than lowering wages and waiting for them to quit. Similarly, a vacancy is created when a specialized factor is missing from such a group. Technology comes with varying levels of risk and expected return associated with the degree of specialization. More specialization means more severe fluctuations and a higher average level of unemployment, along with a higher average level of output and growth. Monetary policy, interest rates, and fiscal policy have no special roles to play in the model.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 0950.

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Date of creation: Aug 1982
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:0950

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References listed on IDEAS
Please 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.:
  1. Feiger, George, 1976. "What Is Speculation?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 90(4), pages 677-87, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Robert G. King & Charles I. Plosser, 1984. "The Behavior of Money, Credit, and Prices in a Real Business Cycle," NBER Working Papers 0853, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Dale W. Jorgenson, 1972. "Investment Behavior and the Production Function," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 3(1), pages 220-251, Spring. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Burdett, Kenneth & Mortensen, Dale T, 1980. "Search, Layoffs, and Labor Market Equilibrium," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 88(4), pages 652-72, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  5. Finn Kydland & Edward C. Prescott, 1980. "A Competitive Theory of Fluctuations and the Feasibility and Desirability of Stabilization Policy," NBER Chapters, in: Rational Expectations and Economic Policy, pages 169-198 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
  6. Long, John B, Jr & Plosser, Charles I, 1983. "Real Business Cycles," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 91(1), pages 39-69, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Robert J. Hodrick & Edward Prescott, 1981. "Post-War U.S. Business Cycles: An Empirical Investigation," Discussion Papers 451, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science. [Downloadable!]
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  8. Edward E. Leamer, 1982. "Let's Take the Con Out of Econometrics," UCLA Economics Working Papers 239, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Barro, Robert J & King, Robert G, 1984. "Time-separable Preferences and Intertemporal-Substitution Models of Business Cycles," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 99(4), pages 817-39, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Kydland, Finn E & Prescott, Edward C, 1982. "Time to Build and Aggregate Fluctuations," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 50(6), pages 1345-70, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Lucas, Robert Jr. & Prescott, Edward C., 1974. "Equilibrium search and unemployment," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 7(2), pages 188-209, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. King, Robert G & Plosser, Charles I, 1984. "Money, Credit, and Prices in a Real Business Cycle," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 74(3), pages 363-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Stigler, George J & Becker, Gary S, 1977. "De Gustibus Non Est Disputandum," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(2), pages 76-90, March.
  14. Lucas, Robert E., 1977. "Understanding business cycles," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 7-29, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  1. Bennett T. McCallum, 1990. "Real Business Cycle Models," NBER Working Papers 2480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Antonello D’Agostino & Roberta Serafini & Melanie Ward-Warmedinger, 2006. "Sectoral explanations of employment in Europe - the role of services," Working Paper Series 625, European Central Bank. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Brevik Frode & Manfred Gärtner, 2004. "Teaching Real Business Cycles to Undergraduates," University of St. Gallen Department of Economics working paper series 2004 2004-05, Department of Economics, University of St. Gallen. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  4. D'Agostino, Antonello & Serafini, Roberta & Ward, Melanie, 2006. "Sectoral explanations of employment in Europe: the role of services," Research Technical Papers 8/RT/06, Central Bank & Financial Services Authority of Ireland (CBFSAI). [Downloadable!]
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