IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/dyncon/v35y2011i9p1605-1613.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

On the role of small models in macrodynamics

Author

Listed:
  • Turnovsky, Stephen J.

Abstract

This paper focuses on the role of small models in macrodynamics. It discusses the insights that I believe these models offer and the extent to which they can address some of the complex issues, such as heterogeneity and interactions among agents that are receiving increasing attention in the literature. I comment on what I view to be the most productive role for numerical simulations, and finally offer some brief comments in defense of the state of modern macroeconomic theory in light of the criticism it has received as a result of the recent financial crisis.

Suggested Citation

  • Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2011. "On the role of small models in macrodynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1605-1613, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:35:y:2011:i:9:p:1605-1613
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165188911000832
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Smith, Adam, 1759. "The Theory of Moral Sentiments," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number smith1759.
    2. E. Eisenberg, 1961. "Aggregation of Utility Functions," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 7(4), pages 337-350, July.
    3. Atolia, Manoj & Chatterjee, Santanu & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2010. "How misleading is linearization? Evaluating the dynamics of the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 34(9), pages 1550-1571, September.
    4. Barro, Robert J, 1974. "Are Government Bonds Net Wealth?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(6), pages 1095-1117, Nov.-Dec..
    5. d'Albis, Hippolyte, 2007. "Demographic structure and capital accumulation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 132(1), pages 411-434, January.
    6. David Colander & Peter Howitt & Alan Kirman & Axel Leijonhufvud & Perry Mehrling, 2018. "Beyond DSGE Models: Toward an Empirically Based Macroeconomics," Chapters, in: How Economics Should Be Done, chapter 14, pages 212-216, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    7. Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Stephen Turnovsky, 2006. "Growth and income inequality: a canonical model," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 28(1), pages 25-49, May.
    8. Robert M. Solow, 1956. "A Contribution to the Theory of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 70(1), pages 65-94.
    9. Paul A. Samuelson, 1958. "An Exact Consumption-Loan Model of Interest with or without the Social Contrivance of Money," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66(6), pages 467-467.
    10. Bewley, Truman, 1977. "The permanent income hypothesis: A theoretical formulation," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 252-292, December.
    11. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2011. "Stabilization Theory and Policy: 50 Years after the Phillips Curve," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 78(309), pages 67-88, January.
    12. Sargent, Thomas J. & Wallace, Neil, 1976. "Rational expectations and the theory of economic policy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 169-183, April.
    13. Judd, Kenneth L., 1985. "Redistributive taxation in a simple perfect foresight model," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 59-83, October.
    14. Bond, Eric W. & Wang, Ping & Yip, Chong K., 1996. "A General Two-Sector Model of Endogenous Growth with Human and Physical Capital: Balanced Growth and Transitional Dynamics," Journal of Economic Theory, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 149-173, January.
    15. M.R. Wickens, 2010. "What's Wrong with Modern Macroeconomics? Why its Critics have Missed the Point -super-1," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 56(4), pages 536-553, December.
    16. William A. Brock & Steven N. Durlauf & Giacomo Rondina, 2008. "Frequency-Specific Effects of Stabilization Policies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 241-245, May.
    17. Jaume Ventura & Francesco Caselli, 2000. "A Representative Consumer Theory of Distribution," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(4), pages 909-926, September.
    18. Sargent, Thomas J & Wallace, Neil, 1973. "The Stability of Models of Money and Growth with Perfect Foresight," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 41(6), pages 1043-1048, November.
    19. Kevin D. Hoover & Soren Johansen & Katarina Juselius, 2008. "Allowing the Data to Speak Freely: The Macroeconometrics of the Cointegrated Vector Autoregression," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 251-255, May.
    20. Sargent, Thomas J & Wallace, Neil, 1975. ""Rational" Expectations, the Optimal Monetary Instrument, and the Optimal Money Supply Rule," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(2), pages 241-254, April.
    21. Veblen, Thorstein, 1899. "The Theory of the Leisure Class," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, number veblen1899.
    22. Jochen Mierau & Stephen Turnovsky, 2014. "Capital accumulation and the sources of demographic change," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 857-894, July.
    23. Wagner, Alfred, 1891. "Marshall's Principles of Economics," History of Economic Thought Articles, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, vol. 5, pages 319-338.
    24. Turnovsky, Stephen J. & Garci­a-Peñalosa, Cecilia, 2008. "Distributional dynamics in a neoclassical growth model: The role of elastic labor supply," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 32(5), pages 1399-1431, May.
    25. Turnovsky,Stephen J., 1977. "Macroeconomic Analysis and Stabilization Policy," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521291873, September.
    26. Gan, Zhuojiong & Lau, Sau-Him Paul, 2010. "Demographic structure and overlapping generations: A simpler proof with more general conditions," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 46(3), pages 311-319, May.
    27. Antoine Bommier & Ronald D. Lee, 2003. "Overlapping generations models with realistic demography," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 16(1), pages 135-160, February.
    28. Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Stephen Turnovsky, 2008. "Consumption externalities: a representative consumer model when agents are heterogeneous," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 37(3), pages 439-467, December.
    29. Blanchard, Olivier J, 1985. "Debt, Deficits, and Finite Horizons," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 93(2), pages 223-247, April.
    30. Dornbusch, Rudiger, 1976. "Expectations and Exchange Rate Dynamics," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 84(6), pages 1161-1176, December.
    31. Lau, Sau-Him Paul, 2009. "Demographic structure and capital accumulation: A quantitative assessment," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 33(3), pages 554-567, March.
    32. Per Krusell & Anthony A. Smith & Jr., 1998. "Income and Wealth Heterogeneity in the Macroeconomy," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 106(5), pages 867-896, October.
    33. F. A. Lutz, 1961. "The Theory of Capital," International Economic Association Series, Palgrave Macmillan, number 978-1-349-08452-4 edited by D. C. Hague, December.
    34. Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2002. "Intertemporal and intratemporal substitution, and the speed of convergence in the neoclassical growth model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 26(9-10), pages 1765-1785, August.
    35. Wang, Neng, 2007. "An equilibrium model of wealth distribution," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(7), pages 1882-1904, October.
    36. Chamley, Christophe, 1986. "Optimal Taxation of Capital Income in General Equilibrium with Infinite Lives," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(3), pages 607-622, May.
    37. Lucas, Robert Jr, 1976. "Econometric policy evaluation: A critique," Carnegie-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 19-46, January.
    38. Blake LeBaron & Leigh Tesfatsion, 2008. "Modeling Macroeconomies as Open-Ended Dynamic Systems of Interacting Agents," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 98(2), pages 246-250, May.
    39. Nicholas Kaldor, 1961. "Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth," International Economic Association Series, in: D. C. Hague (ed.), The Theory of Capital, chapter 0, pages 177-222, Palgrave Macmillan.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Calvert Jump, Robert & Hommes, Cars & Levine, Paul, 2019. "Learning, heterogeneity, and complexity in the New Keynesian model," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 446-470.
    2. Jenny Ligthart & Gerard C. van der Meijdenz, 2011. "The Dynamics of Revenue-Neutral Trade Liberalization," International Center for Public Policy Working Paper Series, at AYSPS, GSU paper1124, International Center for Public Policy, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies, Georgia State University.
    3. Engwerda, J.C., 2012. "Prospects of Tools from Differential Games in the Study Of Macroeconomics of Climate Change," Discussion Paper 2012-045, Tilburg University, Center for Economic Research.
    4. van der Meijden, G.C., 2013. "The macroeconomic dynamics of trade liberalization, resource exploitation, and backstop technologies," Other publications TiSEM 988fc892-3596-4af3-9964-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    5. Jochen Mierau & Stephen Turnovsky, 2014. "Demography, growth, and inequality," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 55(1), pages 29-68, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Cecilia García‐Peñalosa & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2011. "Taxation and Income Distribution Dynamics in a Neoclassical Growth Model," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 43(8), pages 1543-1577, December.
    2. Marcel Aloy & Gilles de Truchis, 2012. "Estimation and Testing for Fractional Cointegration," AMSE Working Papers 1215, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    3. Bruce, Neil & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2013. "Social security, growth, and welfare in overlapping generations economies with or without annuities," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 12-24.
    4. Lau, Sau-Him Paul, 2014. "Fertility and mortality changes in an overlapping-generations model with realistic demography," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 512-521.
    5. Cecilia García-Peñalosa & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2012. "Income Inequality, Mobility, and the Accumulation of Capital. The role of Heterogeneous Labor Productivity," AMSE Working Papers 1216, Aix-Marseille School of Economics, France.
    6. Jochen Mierau & Stephen Turnovsky, 2014. "Capital accumulation and the sources of demographic change," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 27(3), pages 857-894, July.
    7. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2005. "Back to Keynes?," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 51(4), pages 777-822.
    8. Erauskin, Iñaki & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2019. "International financial integration and income inequality in a stochastically growing economy," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 55-74.
    9. Thomas J. Sargent, 1982. "The Ends of Four Big Inflations," NBER Chapters, in: Inflation: Causes and Effects, pages 41-98, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Willem H. Buiter, 2003. "James Tobin: An Appreciation of his Contribution to Economics," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(491), pages 585-631, November.
    11. Andreas Irmen, 2017. "Capital‐ And Labor‐Saving Technical Change In An Aging Economy," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(1), pages 261-285, February.
    12. Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2019. "Trends and fads in macroeconomic dynamics," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 179-197, December.
    13. Minea, Alexandru, 2008. "The Role of Public Spending in the Growth Theory Evolution," Journal for Economic Forecasting, Institute for Economic Forecasting, vol. 5(2), pages 99-120, June.
    14. David Oxborrow & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2017. "Closing the Small Open Economy Model: A Demographic Approach," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(1), pages 44-75, February.
    15. Augeraud-Véron, Emmanuelle & D'Albis, Hippolyte, 2009. "Continuous-Time Overlapping Generations Models," TSE Working Papers 09-047, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    16. Getachew, Yoseph Y. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2020. "Redistribution, inequality, and efficiency with credit constraints: Implications for South Africa," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 259-277.
    17. Lee, R., 2016. "Macroeconomics, Aging, and Growth," Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, in: Piggott, John & Woodland, Alan (ed.), Handbook of the Economics of Population Aging, edition 1, volume 1, chapter 0, pages 59-118, Elsevier.
    18. Jochen Mierau & Stephen Turnovsky, 2014. "Demography, growth, and inequality," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 55(1), pages 29-68, January.
    19. Philip Arestis & Alexander Mihailov, 2011. "Classifying Monetary Economics: Fields And Methods From Past To Future," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(4), pages 769-800, September.
    20. Yariv, Leeat & Jackson, Matthew O., 2018. "The Non-Existence of Representative Agents," CEPR Discussion Papers 13397, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Small models Macrodynamics;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:35:y:2011:i:9:p:1605-1613. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jedc .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.