Endogenous Technological Change and the New Keynesian Model

This paper develops and estimates a new Keynesian (NK) model with endogenous technology. It shows that introducing endogenous technology can solve three important puzzles faced by conventional NK models: the “inflation persistence”, “disinflationary news shock”, and “zero lower bound (ZLB) supply shock” puzzles. First, the observed persistence in inflation is explained without relying on the conventional NK models' additional assumptions, e.g., backward price indexation. Second, it explains the observed disinflationary effect of a news shock. Third, the model avoids the conventional NK models' paradoxical, empirically inconsistent prediction that a negative supply shock is expansionary at the ZLB on interest rates.

Endogenous growth, human capital and the dynamic costs of recessions

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is twofold: to construct and analyze a novel endogenous growth model, in which unbounded growth is possible without the need to assume increasing returns to scale, and to use the model to estimate the long-run (or dynamic) costs of recessions.Design/methodology/approachIn the proposed model, endogenous technology and human capital accumulation serve as the “twin engines of growth.” Simulations are used to derive growth rates consistent with long-term experience of developed countries, to understand better the differences between balanced growth and unbounded growth and to provide an estimate of the dynamic costs of capacity utilization shocks that produce business cycle-like behavior.FindingsConservative calculations show that the costs of the capacity shocks can be large – about 1.5 percent of the present value of output over a 100-period horizon. The theoretical model also suggests that differences in the technology production and human capital accumulation functions, possibly due to differing institutions, may help explain diverse growth experiences.Originality/valueThe paper, for first time, combines two strands of the economic growth theory – endogenous technology and endogenous human capital production – into a single model. It uses the implications of the model to argue, through simulations, that the benefits of counter-cyclical policies are potentially large in the long run.

Endogenous Production Networks

We develop a tractable model of endogenous production networks. Each one of a number of products can be produced by combining labor and an endogenous subset of the other products as inputs. Different combinations of inputs generate (prespecified) levels of productivity and various distortions may affect costs and prices. We establish the existence and uniqueness of an equilibrium and provide comparative static results on how prices and endogenous technology/input choices (and thus the production network) respond to changes in parameters. These results show that improvements in technology (or reductions in distortions) spread throughout the economy via input–output linkages and reduce all prices, and under reasonable restrictions on the menu of production technologies, also lead to a denser production network. Using a dynamic version of the model, we establish that the endogenous evolution of the production network could be a powerful force towards sustained economic growth. At the root of this result is the fact that the arrival of a few new products expands the set of technological possibilities of all existing industries by a large amount—that is, if there are n products, the arrival of one more new product increases the combinations of inputs that each existing product can use from 2 n−1 to 2 n , thus enabling significantly more pronounced cost reductions from choice of input combinations. These cost reductions then spread to other industries via lower input prices and incentivize them to also adopt additional inputs.

Endogenous Technology Adoption and R&D as Sources of Business Cycle Persistence

We examine the hypothesis that the slowdown in productivity following the Great Recession was in significant part an endogenous response to the contraction in demand that induced the downturn. We motivate, develop, and estimate a model with an endogenous TFP mechanism that allows for costly development and adoption of technologies. Our main finding is that a significant fraction of the post-Great Recession fall in productivity was an endogenous phenomenon, suggesting that demand factors played an important role in the postcrisis slowdown of capacity growth. More generally, we provide insight into why recoveries from financial crises may be so slow. (JEL E23, E24, E32, E44, G01)