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Is Increased Price Flexibility Stabilizing? Redux

Author

Listed:
  • Raphael Schoenle

    (Brandeis University)

  • Gauti Eggertsson

    (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

  • Saroj Bhattarai

    (Penn State University)

Abstract

We study the implications of increased price flexibility on aggregate output volatility in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model. First, using a simplified version of the model, we show analytically that the results depend on the shocks driving the economy and the systematic response of monetary policy to inflation: More flexible prices amplify the effect of demand shocks on output if interest rates do not respond strongly to inflation, while higher flexibility amplifies the effect of supply shocks on output if interest rates are very responsive to inflation. Next, we estimate a medium-scale DSGE model using post-WWII U.S. data and Bayesian methods and, conditional on the estimates of structural parameters and shocks, ask: Would the U.S. economy have been more or less stable had prices been more flexible than historically? Our main finding is that increased price flexibility would have been destabilizing for output and employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Raphael Schoenle & Gauti Eggertsson & Saroj Bhattarai, 2012. "Is Increased Price Flexibility Stabilizing? Redux," 2012 Meeting Papers 487, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed012:487
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Hafedh Bouakez & Michel Guillard & Jordan Roulleau-Pasdeloup, 2017. "Public Investment, Time to Build, and the Zero Lower Bound," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 23, pages 60-79, January.
    2. Jordan Roulleau-Pasdeloup & Anastasia Zhutova, 2015. "Labor Market Policies and the "Missing Deflation" Puzzle: Lessons from Hoover Policies during the U.S Great Depression," Cahiers de Recherches Economiques du Département d'Econométrie et d'Economie politique (DEEP) 15.05, Université de Lausanne, Faculté des HEC, DEEP.
    3. Jordi Galí & Tommaso Monacelli, 2013. "Understanding the gains from wage flexibility: The exchange rate connection," Economics Working Papers 1408, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, revised Jun 2016.
    4. Eggertsson, Gauti B. & Mehrotra, Neil & Robbins, Jacob A., 2017. "A Model of Secular Stagnation: Theory and Quantitative Evaluation," Working Papers 742, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    5. Simon Gilchrist & Raphael Schoenle & Jae Sim & Egon Zakrajšek, 2017. "Inflation Dynamics during the Financial Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 107(3), pages 785-823, March.
    6. Jordi Galí & Tommaso Monacelli, 2016. "Understanding the Gains from Wage Flexibility: The Exchange Rate Connection," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(12), pages 3829-3868, December.
    7. Michael Kiley, 2016. "Policy Paradoxes in the New-Keynesian Model," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 21, pages 1-15, July.
    8. Berger, David & Vavra, Joseph, 2018. "Dynamics of the U.S. price distribution," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 60-82.
    9. Gauti B. Eggertsson & Vaishali Garga, 2017. "Sticky Prices Versus Sticky Information: Does it Matter for Policy Paradoxes?," NBER Working Papers 23961, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Rannenberg, Ansgar & Schoder, Christian & Strasky, Jan, 2015. "The macroeconomic effects of the Euro Area's fiscal consolidation 2011-2013: A Simulation-based approach," Research Technical Papers 03/RT/15, Central Bank of Ireland.
    11. Gauti B. Eggertsson & Marc Giannoni, 2013. "The inflation-output trade-off revisited," Staff Reports 608, Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
    12. repec:taf:nzecpp:v:51:y:2017:i:3:p:217-236 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Ansgar Rannenberg & Christian Schoder & Jan Strásky, 2015. "The macroeconomic effects of the Euro Area?s fiscal consolidation 2011-2013," IMK Working Paper 156-2015, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    14. Gauti B. Eggertsson & Sanjay R. Singh, 2016. "Log-linear Approximation versus an Exact Solution at the ZLB in the New Keynesian Model," NBER Working Papers 22784, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Miles Parker, 2017. "Price-setting behaviour in New Zealand," New Zealand Economic Papers, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(3), pages 217-236, September.

    More about this item

    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
    • E52 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Monetary Policy, Central Banking, and the Supply of Money and Credit - - - Monetary Policy

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