Uncertainty and Information Acquisition: Evidence from Firms and Households

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Mikosch, Heiner; Roth, Christopher; Sarferaz, Samad; Wohlfart, Johannes
• 署名单位: Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology Domain; ETH Zurich; Max Planck Society; University of Cologne; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of Cologne
• 刊物名称: AMERICAN ECONOMIC JOURNAL-MACROECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 1945-7707
• DOI: 10.1257/mac.20220047
• 发表日期: 2024
• 页码: 375-405
• 关键词: Macroeconomic expectations; sticky prices; POLICY

摘要

We leverage the small open economy Switzerland as a testing ground for basic premises of macroeconomic models of endogenous information acquisition, using tailored surveys of firms and households. Firms and households perceiving a greater exposure to exchange rate fluctuations acquire more information about the exchange rate. Moreover, higher perceived costs of acquiring or processing information are associated with lower levels of information acquisition. Finally, an exogenous increase in the perceived uncertainty of the exchange rate increases firms' demand for a report about exchange rate developments, but not households'. Our findings inform the modeling of information frictions in macroeconomics.