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Real business cycle models of the Great Depression

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  • Luca Pensieroso

    (Chargé de Recherches FRS—FNRS, IRES, Université catholique de Louvain, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium)

Abstract

The Great Depression of the 1930s is again on the frontier of research in macroeconomics. Researchers working in the real business cycle (RBC) tradition have recently started to apply their theoretical apparatus to the event. This paper discusses the result of their work and assesses the role of history and macroeconomics in analysing the Great Depression. I argue that the breaking of the depression taboo in macroeconomics has been a desirable completion of the cliometric revolution: no historical event should be exempt from a dispassionate quantitative analysis. On the other hand, the substantive contribution of RBC models is not yet sufficient to establish a new historiography of the Great Depression.

Suggested Citation

  • Luca Pensieroso, 2011. "Real business cycle models of the Great Depression," Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 5(2), pages 101-119, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:afc:cliome:v:5:y:2011:i:2:p:101-119
    DOI: 10.1007/s11698-010-0053-0
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    1. Thierry Aimar & Francis Bismans & Claude Diebolt, 2010. "Le cycle économique : une synthèse," Revue Française d'Économie, Programme National Persée, vol. 24(4), pages 3-65.
    2. Luca Pensieroso & Romain Restout, 2018. "The Gold Standard and the Great Depression: a Dynamic General Equilibrium Model," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2018016, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    3. Spahn Peter, 2009. "The New Keynesian Microfoundation of Macroeconomics," Review of Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 60(3), pages 181-203, December.
    4. Cardi, Olivier & Restout, Romain, 2023. "Sectoral fiscal multipliers and technology in open economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    5. Özer Karagedikli & Troy Matheson & Christie Smith & Shaun P. Vahey, 2010. "RBCs AND DSGEs: THE COMPUTATIONAL APPROACH TO BUSINESS CYCLE THEORY AND EVIDENCE," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(1), pages 113-136, February.
    6. Claude DIEBOLT & Antoine PARENT & Jamel TRABELSI, 2012. "Revisiting the 1929 Crisis : Was the Fed Pre-Keynesian ? New Lessons from the Past," Historical Social Research (Section 'Cliometrics'), Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), vol. 37(2), pages 280-297.
    7. Nicholas Crafts & Peter Fearon, 2010. "Lessons from the 1930s Great Depression," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 26(3), pages 285-317, Autumn.
    8. Luca Pensieroso, 2011. "The Great Depression in Belgium from a Neoclassical Perspective," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 14(2), pages 389-402, Arpil.
    9. Timothy J. Kehoe & Edward C. Prescott, 2008. "Using the general equilibrium growth model to study great depressions: a reply to Temin," Staff Report 418, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
    10. Konstantakis, Konstantinos N. & Michaelides, Panayotis G., 2017. "Technology and Business Cycles: A Schumpeterian Investigation for the USA," MPRA Paper 80636, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Luca PENSIEROSO, 2010. "The Great Depression in Belgium: an Open-Economy Analysis," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2010023, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    12. Konstantakis, Konstantinos N. & Michaelides, Panayotis G., 2017. "Does technology cause business cycles in the USA? A Schumpeter-inspired approach," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 15-26, December.
    13. Claude Diebolt & Antoine Parent & Jamel Trabelsi, 2010. "Expansionary Monetary Policy Under Liquidity Trap: 2009 in Light of 1929. A Counterfactual Analysis," Working Papers 10-07, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    14. Christian A. Belabed, 2016. "Inequality and the New Deal," IMK Working Paper 166-2016, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    15. Brian Snowdon, 2007. "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 541-562, Fall.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great depression; Real business cycle; Dynamic stochastic general equilibrium; Cliometrics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods

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