Wealth inequality, preference heterogeneity and macroeconomic volatility in two-sector economies

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Ghiglino, Christian; Venditti, Alain
• 署名单位: University of London; Queen Mary University London; University of Bern; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS); Aix-Marseille Universite
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC THEORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0531
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jet.2006.05.008
• 发表日期: 2007
• 页码: 414-441
• 关键词: heterogeneity; income inequality; Macroeconomic volatility; endogenous fluctuations

摘要

We explore the link between wealth inequality, preference heterogeneity and macroeconomic volatility in a two-sector neoclassical growth model. First we prove that, if agents have homogeneous preferences, when the absolute risk tolerance is a strictly convex (concave) function, sufficiently high (low) levels of wealth inequality may lead to endogenous fluctuations in the neighborhood of the steady state. Second, we consider the effects of preference heterogeneity when agents are homogeneous with respect to their wealth. We show that when the utility function belongs to the HARA class, sufficiently high levels of preference heterogeneity may lead to endogenous fluctuations in the neighborhood of the steady state if the elasticity of intertemporal substitution in consumption is greater than one. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.