Real business cycles and sunspot fluctuations are observationally equivalent

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Kamihigashi, T
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF MONETARY ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3932
• DOI: 10.1016/0304-3932(95)01243-5
• 发表日期: 1996
• 页码: 105-117
• 关键词: real business cycle models; externalities; sunspots; observational equivalence

摘要

This paper points out that real business cycle models are observationally equivalent to externality models, which we define as models with externalities and sunspots but without productivity shocks. As far as standard first-order systems are concerned, however, externality models turn out to be more flexible than RBC models. This explains, at least partly, why previous studies have found that externality models perform better than standard RBC models at generating realistic business cycle behavior. Our results cast doubt on the arguments of Farmer and Guo (1994) and Caballero and Lyons (1992).