Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function

Pascal Michaillat and Emmanuel Saez

No 24971, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: At the zero lower bound, the New Keynesian model predicts that output and inflation collapse to implausibly low levels, and that government spending and forward guidance have implausibly large effects. To resolve these anomalies, we introduce wealth into the utility function; the justification is that wealth is a marker of social status, and people value status. Since people partly save to accrue social status, the Euler equation is modified. As a result, when the marginal utility of wealth is sufficiently large, the dynamical system representing the zero-lower-bound equilibrium transforms from a saddle to a source—which resolves all the anomalies.

JEL-codes: E31 E32 E43 E52 E71 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-08
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dge, nep-mac and nep-upt
Note: EFG ME
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (18)

Published as Pascal Michaillat & Emmanuel Saez, 2021. "Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function," The Review of Economics and Statistics, vol 103(2), pages 197-215.

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Related works:
Journal Article: Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function (2021)
Working Paper: Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function (2019)
Working Paper: Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function (2019)
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