IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/bofrdp/279566.html

Demographic aging and the New Keynesian Phillips Curve

Author

Listed:
  • Ambrocio, Gene

Abstract

I document a statistical link between old-age dependency ratios and average markups. I propose that a mechanism whereby households develop deep habits in consumption as they age could explain this feature of the data. I show that when this mechanism is embedded in an overlapping generations New Keynesian model, the slope of the New Keynesian Phillips Curve flattens as the population ages. Further, the contractionary effects of monetary policy surprises on output are amplified. These results suggest that the challenges faced by monetary policy may become more pronounced as populations age.

Suggested Citation

  • Ambrocio, Gene, 2023. "Demographic aging and the New Keynesian Phillips Curve," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 16/2023, Bank of Finland.
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:bofrdp:279566
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/279566/1/1868654575.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Maarten De Ridder, 2024. "Market Power and Innovation in the Intangible Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(1), pages 199-251, January.
    2. Nakamura, Emi & Steinsson, Jón, 2011. "Price setting in forward-looking customer markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 220-233.
    3. Ernest Liu & Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2022. "Low Interest Rates, Market Power, and Productivity Growth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 90(1), pages 193-221, January.
    4. Ravn, Morten O. & Schmitt-Grohe, Stephanie & Uribe, Martín & Uuskula, Lenno, 2010. "Deep habits and the dynamic effects of monetary policy shocks," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 236-258, June.
    5. Roldan-Blanco, Pau & Gilbukh, Sonia, 2021. "Firm dynamics and pricing under customer capital accumulation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 99-119.
    6. James B. Bullard & Carlos Garriga & Christopher J. Waller, 2012. "Demographics, redistribution, and optimal inflation," Review, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, issue Nov, pages 419-440.
    7. Barnichon, Regis & Mesters, Geert, 2021. "The Phillips multiplier," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 689-705.
    8. Campbell Leith & Ioana Moldovan & Raffaele Rossi, 2012. "Optimal Monetary Policy in a New Keynesian Model with Habits in Consumption," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(3), pages 416-435, July.
    9. Michael McLeay & Silvana Tenreyro, 2020. "Optimal Inflation and the Identification of the Phillips Curve," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(1), pages 199-255.
    10. Kimberly A. Berg & Chadwick C. Curtis & Steven Lugauer & Nelson C. Mark, 2021. "Demographics and Monetary Policy Shocks," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 53(6), pages 1229-1266, September.
    11. Carvalho, Carlos & Ferrero, Andrea & Nechio, Fernanda, 2016. "Demographics and real interest rates: Inspecting the mechanism," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 208-226.
    12. Pollak, Robert A & Wales, Terence J, 1981. "Demographic Variables in Demand Analysis," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1533-1551, November.
    13. Juselius, Mikael & Takáts, Előd, 2021. "Inflation and demography through time," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 128(C).
    14. Robert C. Feenstra & Luca Macedoni & Mingzhi Xu, 2022. "Large Firms, Consumer Heterogeneity and the Rising Share of Profits," NBER Working Papers 29646, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Auclert, Adrien & Malmberg, Hannes & Martenet, Frederic & Rognlie, Matthew, 2021. "Demographics, Wealth, and Global Imbalances in the Twenty-First Century," CEPR Discussion Papers 16470, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    16. Elisa Rubbo, 2023. "Networks, Phillips Curves, and Monetary Policy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(4), pages 1417-1455, July.
    17. Gideon Bornstein, 2025. "Entry and Profits in an Aging Economy: The Role of Consumer Inertia," NBER Working Papers 33820, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Fujiwara, Ippei & Teranishi, Yuki, 2008. "A dynamic new Keynesian life-cycle model: Societal aging, demographics, and monetary policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 2398-2427, August.
    19. Yunus Aksoy & Henrique S. Basso & Ron P. Smith & Tobias Grasl, 2019. "Demographic Structure and Macroeconomic Trends," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(1), pages 193-222, January.
    20. Enghin Atalay & Erika Frost & Alan Sorensen & Christopher Sullivan & Wanjia Zhu, 2023. "Scalable Demand and Markups," Working Papers 23-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
    21. David Autor & David Dorn & Lawrence F Katz & Christina Patterson & John Van Reenen, 2020. "The Fall of the Labor Share and the Rise of Superstar Firms [“Automation and New Tasks: How Technology Displaces and Reinstates Labor”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 645-709.
    22. Krueger, Dirk & Ludwig, Alexander, 2007. "On the consequences of demographic change for rates of returns to capital, and the distribution of wealth and welfare," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(1), pages 49-87, January.
    23. Callum Jones, 2023. "Aging, Secular Stagnation, and the Business Cycle," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 105(6), pages 1580-1595, November.
    24. Zubairy, Sarah, 2014. "Interest Rate Rules And Equilibrium Stability Under Deep Habits," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 18(1), pages 23-40, January.
    25. Kristin J. Forbes & Joseph E. Gagnon & Christopher G. Collins, 2022. "Low Inflation Bends the Phillips Curve around the World," Revista Economía, Fondo Editorial - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, vol. 45(89), pages 52-72.
    26. Gasteiger, Emanuel & Grimaud, Alex, 2023. "Price setting frequency and the Phillips curve," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 158(C).
    27. Leith, Campbell & Moldovan, Ioana & Rossi, Raffaele, 2015. "Monetary and fiscal policy under deep habits," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 55-74.
    28. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Tobias J. Klein & Yan Xu, 2024. "Consumer Time Budgets and Grocery Shopping Behavior," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 70(3), pages 1596-1612, March.
    29. Parks, Richard W & Barten, Anton P, 1973. "A Cross-Country Comparison of the Effects of Prices, Income and Population Composition on Consumption Patterns," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 83(331), pages 834-852, September.
    30. Punnoose Jacob, 2015. "Deep Habits, Price Rigidities, and the Consumption Response to Government Spending," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(2-3), pages 481-510, March.
    31. Fishman, Arthur & Hellman, Ziv & Weiss, Avi, 2023. "Habit forming consumers and firm dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 154(C).
    32. Simon Mongey & Jan De Loecker & Jan Eeckhout, 2021. "Quantifying Market Power and Business Dynamism in the Macroeconomy," Working Papers 1251, Barcelona School of Economics.
    33. Boucekkine, Raouf & de la Croix, David & Licandro, Omar, 2002. "Vintage Human Capital, Demographic Trends, and Endogenous Growth," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 104(2), pages 340-375, June.
    34. Paul Beaudry & Chenyu Hou & Franck Portier, 2024. "Monetary Policy When the Phillips Curve Is Quite Flat," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 16(1), pages 1-28, January.
    35. Fatih Karahan & Benjamin Pugsley & Ayşegül Şahin, 2024. "Demographic Origins of the Start-up Deficit," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 1986-2023, July.
    36. James Liang & Hui Wang & Edward P. Lazear, 2018. "Demographics and Entrepreneurship," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 126(S1), pages 140-196.
    37. Thomas A. Lubik & Wing Leong Teo, 2014. "Deep Habits in the New Keynesian Phillips Curve," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 46(1), pages 79-114, February.
    38. James Feyrer, 2007. "Demographics and Productivity," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(1), pages 100-109, February.
    39. Lukasz Rachel & Lawrence H. Summers, 2019. "On Secular Stagnation in the Industrialized World," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 50(1 (Spring), pages 1-76.
    40. Jonathon Hazell & Juan Herreño & Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2022. "The Slope of the Phillips Curve: Evidence from U.S. States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 137(3), pages 1299-1344.
    41. Ascari, Guido & Carrier, Alexandre & Gasteiger, Emanuel & Grimaud, Alex & Vermandel, Gauthier, 2025. "Monetary Policy in the Euro Area, when Phillips Curves ... are Curves," CEPR Discussion Papers 20489, Centre for Economic Policy Research.
    42. Bianca He & Lauren I. Mostrom & Amir Sufi, 2024. "Investing in Customer Capital," NBER Working Papers 33171, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    43. Kristin J. Forbes & Joseph E. Gagnon & Christopher G. Collins, 2021. "Low inflation bends the Phillips curve around the world: Extended results," Working Paper Series WP21-15, Peterson Institute for International Economics.
    44. PARKS, Richard W. & BARTEN, Anton P., 1973. "A cross-country comparison of the effects of prices, income and population composition on consumption patterns," LIDAM Reprints CORE 153, Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE).
    45. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre H. Dube & Matthew Gentzkow, 2012. "The Evolution of Brand Preferences: Evidence from Consumer Migration," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 102(6), pages 2472-2508, October.
    46. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2007. "Life-Cycle Prices and Production," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1533-1559, December.
    47. Stephen J. Terry, 2023. "The Macro Impact of Short‐Termism," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(5), pages 1881-1912, September.
    48. Bruno Pellegrino, 2025. "Product Differentiation and Oligopoly: A Network Approach," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(4), pages 1170-1225, April.
    49. Charles Goodhart & Manoj Pradhan, 2020. "The Great Demographic Reversal," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(3), pages 436-445, October.
    50. Katagiri, Mitsuru & Konishi, Hideki & Ueda, Kozo, 2020. "Aging and deflation from a fiscal perspective," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 1-15.
    51. Luca Gagliardone & Mark Gertler & Simone Lenzu & Joris Tielens, 2025. "Anatomy of the Phillips Curve: Micro Evidence and Macro Implications," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 115(11), pages 3941-3974, November.
    52. James Costain & Anton Nakov & Borja Petit, 2022. "Flattening of the Phillips Curve with State-Dependent Prices and Wages," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 132(642), pages 546-581.
    53. Ferrero, Andrea, 2010. "A structural decomposition of the U.S. trade balance: Productivity, demographics and fiscal policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 478-490, May.
    54. Hendrik Döpper & Alexander MacKay & Nathan H. Miller & Joel Stiebale, 2025. "Rising Markups and the Role of Consumer Preferences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 133(8), pages 2462-2505.
    55. Jan De Loecker & Jan Eeckhout & Gabriel Unger, 2020. "The Rise of Market Power and the Macroeconomic Implications [“Econometric Tools for Analyzing Market Outcomes”]," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(2), pages 561-644.
    56. Guido Ascari & Argia M. Sbordone, 2014. "The Macroeconomics of Trend Inflation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 52(3), pages 679-739, September.
    57. Dongya Koh & Raül Santaeulàlia‐Llopis & Yu Zheng, 2020. "Labor Share Decline and Intellectual Property Products Capital," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(6), pages 2609-2628, November.
    58. Olivier Blanchard, 2016. "The Phillips Curve: Back to the '60s?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 106(5), pages 31-34, May.
    59. Nicole Maestas & Kathleen J. Mullen & David Powell, 2023. "The Effect of Population Aging on Economic Growth, the Labor Force, and Productivity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(2), pages 306-332, April.
    60. Òscar Jordà & Moritz Schularick & Alan M. Taylor, 2017. "Macrofinancial History and the New Business Cycle Facts," NBER Macroeconomics Annual, University of Chicago Press, vol. 31(1), pages 213-263.
    61. Javier Cravino & Andrei Levchenko & Marco Rojas, 2022. "Population Aging and Structural Transformation," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 479-498, October.
    62. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2013. "Deconstructing Life Cycle Expenditure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 121(3), pages 437-492.
    63. Mark Aguiar & Erik Hurst, 2005. "Consumption versus Expenditure," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 113(5), pages 919-948, October.
    64. Jordà, Òscar & Schularick, Moritz & Taylor, Alan M., 2020. "The effects of quasi-random monetary experiments," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 22-40.
    65. repec:fip:fedlps:y:2012:i:may30 is not listed on IDEAS
    66. James H. Stock & Mark W. Watson, 2020. "Slack and Cyclically Sensitive Inflation," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 52(S2), pages 393-428, December.
    67. Daniele Siena & Riccardo Zago, 2024. "Job Polarisation, Labour Market Fluidity and the Flattening of the Phillips Curve," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 134(661), pages 2141-2174.
    68. Brent Neiman & Joseph Vavra, 2023. "The Rise of Niche Consumption," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 15(3), pages 224-264, July.
    69. Goodhart, C. A. E. & Pradhan, Manoj, 2020. "The great demographic reversal," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 107545, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    70. James Banks & Richard Blundell & Peter Levell & James P. Smith, 2019. "Life-Cycle Consumption Patterns at Older Ages in the United States and the United Kingdom: Can Medical Expenditures Explain the Difference?," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 11(3), pages 27-54, August.
    71. Bart J. Bronnenberg & Jean-Pierre Dubé, 2017. "The Formation of Consumer Brand Preferences," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 9(1), pages 353-382, September.
    72. Daron Acemoglu & Pascual Restrepo, 2022. "Demographics and Automation," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 89(1), pages 1-44.
    73. John V. Leahy & Aditi Thapar, 2022. "Age Structure and the Impact of Monetary Policy," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(4), pages 136-173, October.
    74. David Argente & Munseob Lee & Sara Moreira, 2024. "The Life Cycle of Products: Evidence and Implications," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(2), pages 337-390.
    75. Moreno-Galbis, Eva & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2014. "Job polarization in aging economies," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 44-55.
    76. Stefano DellaVigna & Joshua M. Pollet, 2007. "Demographics and Industry Returns," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 97(5), pages 1667-1702, December.
    77. Etienne Gagnon & Benjamin K. Johannsen & David López-Salido, 2021. "Understanding the New Normal: The Role of Demographics," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 69(2), pages 357-390, June.
    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. Nickel, Christiane & Kilponen, Juha & Moral-Benito, Enrique & Koester, Gerrit & Ciccarelli, Matteo & Enders, Almira & Holton, Sarah & Landau, Bettina & Venditti, Fabrizio & Bobeica, Elena & Brand, Cla, 2025. "A strategic view on the economic and inflation environment in the euro area," Occasional Paper Series 371, European Central Bank.
    2. Gabriel, Ricardo Duque, 2023. "Monetary policy and the wage inflation-unemployment tradeoff," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    3. Ambrocio, Gene, 2020. "Inflationary household uncertainty shocks," Research Discussion Papers 5/2020, Bank of Finland.
    4. Ambrocio, Gene, 2020. "Inflationary household uncertainty shocks," Bank of Finland Research Discussion Papers 5/2020, Bank of Finland.
    5. Carvalho, Carlos & Ferrero, Andrea & Mazin, Felipe & Nechio, Fernanda, 2025. "Reprint of: Demographics and real interest rates across countries and over time," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    6. Dantas Guimarães, Silvana & Ferreira Tiryaki, Gisele, 2020. "The impact of population aging on business cycles volatility: International evidence," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 17(C).
    7. Amaral, Pedro S., 2023. "The demographic transition and the asset supply channel," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    8. Basso, Henrique S. & Rachedi, Omar, 2025. "Robot adoption and inflation dynamics," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Papetti, Andrea, 2021. "Demographics and the natural real interest Rate: historical and projected paths for the euro area," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    10. Carvalho, Carlos & Ferrero, Andrea & Mazin, Felipe & Nechio, Fernanda, 2025. "Demographics and real interest rates across countries and over time," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    11. Andrea Papetti, 2021. "Population aging, relative prices and capital flows across the globe," Temi di discussione (Economic working papers) 1333, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    12. Maarten De Ridder, 2024. "Market Power and Innovation in the Intangible Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(1), pages 199-251, January.
    13. Kopecky, Joseph, 2023. "Population age structure and secular stagnation: Evidence from long run data," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 24(C).
    14. Maurice Obstfeld, 2025. "Natural and Neutral Real Interest Rates: Past and Future," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 73(2), pages 339-392, June.
    15. Florio, Anna & Siena, Daniele & Zago, Riccardo, 2025. "Global value chains and the Phillips curve: A challenge for monetary policy," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    16. R. Anton Braun & Daisuke Ikeda, 2022. "Why Aging Induces Deflation and Secular Stagnation," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2022-12, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    17. Röhe, Oke & Stähler, Nikolai, 2020. "Demographics and the Decline in Firm Entry: Lessons from a Life-Cycle Model," VfS Annual Conference 2020 (Virtual Conference): Gender Economics 224603, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    18. Marx, Magali & Mojon, Benoît & Velde, François R., 2021. "Why have interest rates fallen far below the return on capital?," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(S), pages 57-76.
    19. Joseph Kopecky & Giacomo Mangiante, 2025. "Monetary Policy Goes Boomer: The Effect of Population Age Structure on Policy Transmission," Trinity Economics Papers tep1725, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    20. Dániel Baksa & Zsuzsa Munkácsi, 2019. "More Gray, More Volatile? Aging and (Optimal) Monetary Policy," Bank of Lithuania Working Paper Series 67, Bank of Lithuania.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • D11 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Theory
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • 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
    • J11 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Demographic Trends, Macroeconomic Effects, and Forecasts

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:zbw:bofrdp:279566. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/bofgvfi.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.