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Do Flexible Durable Goods Prices Undermine Sticky Price Models?

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Author Info
Robert Barsky (The University of Michigan)
Christopher House (The University of Michigan)
Miles Kimball (The University of Michigan)

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Abstract

The “neoclassical synthesis” sticky price model exhibits strange behavior when augmented with markets for durable goods with flexible prices. While in the data the output of durable goods responds strongly and positively to a loosening of monetary policy, in dynamic general equilibrium models a monetary expansion causes the output of flexibly priced durables to contract. In an instructive special case in which the only sticky prices are those of nondurables, the negative co-movement of durable and nondurable output exactly offsets and the behavior of aggregate output in the model is very similar to that of a model with fully flexible prices. This neutrality result is special, but the perverse response of durables to monetary policy is highly robust. The reason for the co-movement problem is the combination of a naturally high intertemporal elasticity of substitution for the purchases of durables and temporarily high factor prices associated with an economic expansion.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by EconWPA in its series Macroeconomics with number 0302003.

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Length: 42 pages
Date of creation: 05 Feb 2003
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Handle: RePEc:wpa:wuwpma:0302003

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Related research
Keywords: sticky-prices durables comovement neutrality;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
E40 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Money and Interest Rates - - - General
E50 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - General

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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. Mankiw, N. Gregory, 1982. "Hall's consumption hypothesis and durable goods," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 10(3), pages 417-425. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Matthew D. Shapiro, 1994. "Federal Reserve Policy: Cause and Effect," NBER Chapters, in: Monetary Policy, pages 307-334 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Erceg, Christopher J. & Henderson, Dale W. & Levin, Andrew T., 2000. "Optimal monetary policy with staggered wage and price contracts," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(2), pages 281-313, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  4. Kimball, Miles S, 1995. "The Quantitative Analytics of the Basic Neomonetarist Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1241-77, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  5. Ohanian, Lee E & Stockman, Alan C & Kilian, Lutz, 1995. "The Effects of Real and Monetary Shocks in a Business Cycle Model with Some Sticky Prices," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1209-34, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  6. Ball, Laurence & Romer, David, 1990. "Real Rigidities and the Non-neutrality of Money," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 57(2), pages 183-203, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  7. Christina D. Romer and David H. Romer., 1989. "Does Monetary Policy Matter? A New Test in the Spirit of Friedman and Schwartz," Economics Working Papers 89-107, University of California at Berkeley.
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  8. James Tobin, 1955. "A Dynamic Aggregative Model," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 63, pages 103. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Leahy, John V, 1995. "The Effects of Real and Monetary Shocks in a Business Cycle Model with Some Sticky Prices: Comment," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 27(4), pages 1237-40, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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Cited by:
(explanations, 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. Daniel Levy & Haipeng Allan Chen & Sourav Ray & Mark Bergen, 2004. "Asymmetric Price Adjustment "in the Small:" An Implication of Rational Inattention," Macroeconomics 0407012, EconWPA, revised 11 May 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  2. Carlos Viana de Carvalho, 2005. "The Effects of Heterogeneity in Price Setting on Price and Inflation Inertia," Macroeconomics 0504038, EconWPA, revised 06 Sep 2005. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  3. Charles T. Carlstrom & Timothy S. Fuerst, 2006. "Co-movement in sticky price models with durable goods," Working Paper 0614, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland. [Downloadable!]
  4. Todd E. Clark, 2003. "Disaggregate evidence on the persistence of consumer price inflation," Research Working Paper RWP 03-11, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Héctor F. Bravo & Carlos J. García & Verónica Mies & Matías Tapia, 2003. "Heterogeneity in Monetary Transmission: Sectoral and Regional Effects," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 235, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
  6. Robert B. Barsky & Christopher L. House & Miles S. Kimball, 2007. "Sticky-Price Models and Durable Goods," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(3), pages 984-998, June. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Nao Sudo, 2008. "Sectoral Co-Movement, Monetary-Policy Shock, and Input-Output Structure," IMES Discussion Paper Series 08-E-15, Institute for Monetary and Economic Studies, Bank of Japan. [Downloadable!]
  8. Carlos Carvalho, 2005. "Heterogeneity in Price Setting and the Real Effects of Monetary Shocks," Macroeconomics 0509017, EconWPA, revised 12 Sep 2005. [Downloadable!]
  9. Campbell Leith & Jim Malley, . "A Sectoral Analysis of Price-Setting Behavior in US Manufacturing Industries," Working Papers 2003_7, Department of Economics, University of Glasgow, revised May 2003. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  10. Jean Boivin & Marc Giannoni & Ilian Mihov, 2007. "Sticky Prices and Monetary Policy: Evidence from Disaggregated U.S. Data," NBER Working Papers 12824, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  11. Patrick Lünnemann & Thomas Y. Mathä, 2004. "Inflation Persistence In Luxembourg A Comparison With Eu15 Countries At The Disaggregate Level," BCL working papers cahier_etude_12, Central Bank of Luxembourg. [Downloadable!]
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