Instabilities in Large Economies: Aggregate Volatility Without Idiosyncratic Shocks

David Thesmar and Augustin Landier

No 1052, HEC Research Papers Series from HEC Paris

Abstract: The authors study a dynamical model of interconnected firms which allows for certain market imperfections and frictions, restricted here to be myopic price forecasts and slow adjustment of production. Whereas the standard rational equilibrium is still formally a stationary solution of the dynamics, the authors show that this equilibrium becomes linearly unstable in a whole region of parameter space. When agents attempt to reach the optimal production target too quickly, coordination breaks down and the dynamics becomes chaotic.

In the unstable, "turbulent", phase the aggregate volatility of the total output remains substantial even when the amplitude of idiosyncratic shocks goes to zero or when the size of the economy becomes large. In other words, crises become endogenous. This suggests an interesting resolution of the "small shocks, large business cycles" puzzle.

Keywords: volatility of aggregate output; network theory; rational expectations; general equilibrium (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 22 pages
Date: 2014-06-20
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Instabilities in large economies: aggregate volatility without idiosyncratic shocks (2014)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ebg:heccah:1052

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