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Technology Commitment and the Cost of Economic Fluctuations

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Author Info
Garey Ramey
Valerie A. Ramey

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Abstract

When firms must make technology commitments, economic fluctuations impose costs in the form of ex post inefficiency in production technology. We present a general equilibrium model in which, due to the presence of technology commitment, greater volatility of productivity shocks leads to lower mean output. When 1earning-by-doing is incorporated, mean output becomes permanently lower as a consequence of higher volatility. The negative and persistent relationship between mean and variance of output implied by our model is strongly verified by the data. We estimate that observed volatility has imposed a cost amounting to almost two percentage points of U.S. GNP growth.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 3755.

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Date of creation: Jun 1991
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:3755

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  10. Keane, Michael P & Runkle, David E, 1990. "Testing the Rationality of Price Forecasts: New Evidence from Panel Data," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 80(4), pages 714-35, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  23. Greenwood, J. & Huffman, G., 1991. "Tax Analysis in A Real Business Cycle Model: On Measuring Harberger Triangles and Okun Gaps," UWO Department of Economics Working Papers 9103, University of Western Ontario, Department of Economics.
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