IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nwu/cmsems/955r.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Indeterminacy of Equilibrium in Dynamic Models with Externalities

Author

Listed:
  • Michele Boldrin
  • Aldo Rustichini

Abstract

In this paper we study the indeterminacy of equilibria in infinite horizon capital accumulation models with technological externalities. Our investigation encompasses both models with bounded and unbounded accumulation paths, and models with one and two sectors of production. Under reasonable assumptions we find that equilibria are locally unique in the one sector economies, at least as long as cycles are not present and trajectories are therefore monotone. On the other hand we show (by means of an example) that persistent oscillations are possible when the external effect is particularly strong and capital accumulation is bounded. In this case indeterminacy maybe present as we are unable to rule out the eexistence of a continuum of equilibria converging to the cycle. The situation is different in economies with two sectors of production. Here it is very easy to construct analytical examples where a positive external effect induces a two dimensional manifold of equilibria converging to the same steady state (in the bounded case) or to the same constant growth rate (in the unbounded case), For the latter we also point out that the dynamic behavior of these equilibria is quite complicated and that persistent fluctuations in their growth rates are possible.

Suggested Citation

  • Michele Boldrin & Aldo Rustichini, 1991. "Indeterminacy of Equilibrium in Dynamic Models with Externalities," Discussion Papers 955R, Northwestern University, Center for Mathematical Studies in Economics and Management Science.
  • Handle: RePEc:nwu:cmsems:955r
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/math/papers/955.pdf
    File Function: main text
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kehoe, Timothy J & Levine, David K & Romer, Paul M, 1992. "On Characterizing Equilibria of Economies with Externalities and Taxes as Solutions to Optimization Problems," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 2(1), pages 43-68, January.
    2. Marianne Baxter & Robert G. King, 1991. "Productive externalities and business cycles," Discussion Paper / Institute for Empirical Macroeconomics 53, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    3. Peter Howitt & R. Preston McAfee, 1988. "Stability of Equilibria with Externalities," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 103(2), pages 261-277.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christiano, Lawrence J. & G. Harrison, Sharon, 1999. "Chaos, sunspots and automatic stabilizers," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 3-31, August.
    2. Guerrazzi, Marco, 2012. "The animal spirits hypothesis and the Benhabib–Farmer condition for indeterminacy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 29(4), pages 1489-1497.
    3. Cooper, Russell W. & Johri, Alok, 1997. "Dynamic complementarities: A quantitative analysis," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 97-119, September.
    4. Benhabib, Jess & Farmer, Roger E. A., 1996. "Indeterminacy and sector-specific externalities," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 421-443, June.
    5. Cooper, Russell & Haltiwanger, John, 1996. "Evidence on Macroeconomic Complementarities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 78(1), pages 78-93, February.
    6. Farmer Roger E. A. & Guo Jang-Ting, 1994. "Real Business Cycles and the Animal Spirits Hypothesis," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 63(1), pages 42-72, June.
    7. Michael Woodford, 1990. "Equilibrium Models of Endogenous Fluctuations: an Introduction," NBER Working Papers 3360, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Guo, Jang-Ting & Lansing, Kevin J., 1998. "Indeterminacy and Stabilization Policy," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 481-490, October.
    9. Bill Dupor, 2005. "Keynesian Conundrum: Multiplicity and Time Consistent Stabilization," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 8(1), pages 154-177, January.
    10. Blomberg, S. Brock & Hess, Gregory D., 2003. "Is the political business cycle for real?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(5-6), pages 1091-1121, May.
    11. Yongsung Chang & Mark Bils, 2002. "Cyclical Movements in Hours and Effort under Sticky Wages," Macroeconomics 0204004, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Tarek Coury & Yi Wen, 2009. "Global indeterminacy in locally determinate real business cycle models," International Journal of Economic Theory, The International Society for Economic Theory, vol. 5(1), pages 49-60, March.
    13. Venditti, Alain, 1998. "Indeterminacy and endogenous fluctuations in two-sector growth models with externalities," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 33(3-4), pages 521-542, January.
    14. Farmer, Roger E. A. & Jang-Ting, Guo, 1995. "The econometrics of indeterminacy: an applied study," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 225-271, December.
    15. Miguel Jimenez & Domenico Marchetti, 2002. "Interpreting the procyclical productivity of manufacturing sectors: can we really rule out external effects?," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(7), pages 805-817.
    16. Kitagawa, Akiomi & Shibata, Akihisa, 2001. "Long gestation in an overlapping generations economy: endogenous cycles and indeterminacy of equilibria," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 99-127, February.
    17. Yi Wen & Huabin Wu, 2011. "Dynamics of externalities: a second-order perspective," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, vol. 93(May), pages 187-206.
    18. Jordi Galí & Mark Gertler & J. David López-Salido, 2007. "Markups, Gaps, and the Welfare Costs of Business Fluctuations," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 44-59, November.
    19. Jaime Alonso-Carrera & Maria Jesus Freire-Seren & Baltasar Manzano, 2008. "Macroeconomic Effects From The Regional Allocation Of Public Capital Formation," CAMA Working Papers 2008-09, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    20. Carranza, Luis & Galdon-Sanchez, Jose E., 2004. "Financial intermediation, variability and the development process," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 27-54, February.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nwu:cmsems:955r. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    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 CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc 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 RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Fran Walker (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cmnwuus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.