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Inventories, Sticky Prices and the Propogation of Nominal Shocks

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  • Martin Boileau
  • Marc-André Letendre

Abstract

Post-war business cycle fluctuations of output and inflation are remarkably persistent. Many recent sticky-price monetary business cycle models, however, grossly underpredict this persistence. We assess whether adding inventories to a standard sticky-price model raises the persistence of output and inflation. For this addition, we consider three different frameworks: a linear-quadratic inventory model, a factor of production model, and a shopping-cost model. We find that adding inventories increases the persistence of output and inflation, but that the increase is smaller for inflation. Overall, the shopping-cost model best explains the persistence of output and inflation.

Suggested Citation

  • Martin Boileau & Marc-André Letendre, 2004. "Inventories, Sticky Prices and the Propogation of Nominal Shocks," Department of Economics Working Papers 2004-03, McMaster University.
    • Handle: RePEc:mcm:deptwp:2004-03
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    Cited by:

    1. Matteo Iacoviello & Fabio Schiantarelli & Scott Schuh, 2011. "Input And Output Inventories In General Equilibrium," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(4), pages 1179-1213, November.
    2. Richard Mash, 2004. "Optimising Microfoundations for Inflation Persistence," Economics Series Working Papers 183, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Boileau, Martin & Letendre, Marc-Andre, 2003. "How much persistence should sticky-price models generate to match US data?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 78(3), pages 335-342, March.
    4. Shibayama Katsuyuki & Chadha Jagjit S., 2014. "Inventories and the stockout constraint in general equilibrium," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 14(1), pages 1-48, January.
    5. Menner Martin, 2006. "A Search-Theoretic Monetary Business Cycle Model with Capital Formation," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 6(1), pages 1-36, November.

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    JEL classification:

    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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