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Customer Capital, Markup Cyclicality, and Amplification

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  • Sungki Hong

Abstract

This paper studies the importance of firm-level price markup dynamics for business cycle fluctuations. Using state-of-the-art IO techniques to measure the behavior of markups over the business cycle at the firm level, I find that markups are countercyclical with an average elasticity of -1.1 with respect to real GDP. Importantly, I find substantial heterogeneity in markup cyclicality across firms, with small firms having significantly more counter-cyclical markups than large firms. Then, I develop a general equilibrium model by embedding customer capital (due to deep habits as in Ravn, Schmitt-Grohe, and Uribe, 2006) into a standard Hopenhayn (1992) model of firm dynamics with entry and exit. The calibrated model replicates these empirical facts and produces counter-cyclical firm sales dispersions consistent with the data. The resulting input misallocation amplifies both the volatility and persistence of the aggregate productivity shocks driving the business cycle.

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  • Sungki Hong, 2017. "Customer Capital, Markup Cyclicality, and Amplification," Working Papers 2017-33, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
  • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2017-033
    DOI: 10.20955/wp.2017.033
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    4. Carlos D Santos & Luís F Costa & Paulo B Brito, 2022. "Demand, Supply and Markup Fluctuations," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(644), pages 1620-1645.
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    7. Okano, Mitsuhiro, 2021. "Optimal monetary policy in a two-country new Keynesian model with deep consumption habits," MPRA Paper 110259, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Business Cycle; Customer Capital; Entry and Exit; Markup Cyclicality;
    All these keywords.

    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
    • L11 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Production, Pricing, and Market Structure; Size Distribution of Firms
    • L13 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Oligopoly and Other Imperfect Markets

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