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What inventories tell us about aggregate fluctuations -- a tractable approach to (S,s) policies

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  • Pengfei Wang
  • Yi Wen
  • Zhiwei Xu

Abstract

We estimate a DSGE model with (S,s) inventory policies. We find that (i) taking inventories into account can significantly improve the empirical fit of DSGE models in matching the standard business-cycle moments (in addition to explaining inventory fluctuations); (ii) (S,s) inventory policies can significantly amplify aggregate output fluctuations, in contrast to the findings of the recent general-equilibrium inventory literature; and (iii) aggregate demand shocks become more important than technol- ogy shocks in explaining the business cycle once inventories are incorporated into the model. An independent contribution of our paper is that we develop a solution method for analytically solving (S,s) inventory policies in general-equilibrium models with het- erogeneous firms and a large aggregate state space, and we illustrate how standard log-linearization methods can be used to solve various versions of our inventory model, generate impulse response functions, and estimate the model?s deep structural para- meters.

Suggested Citation

  • Pengfei Wang & Yi Wen & Zhiwei Xu, 2012. "What inventories tell us about aggregate fluctuations -- a tractable approach to (S,s) policies," Working Papers 2012-059, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedlwp:2012-059
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    Cited by:

    1. Grasselli, Matheus R. & Nguyen-Huu, Adrien, 2018. "Inventory growth cycles with debt-financed investment," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 1-13.
    2. Fabio Antoniou & Raffaele Fiocco, 2019. "Strategic inventories under limited commitment," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 50(3), pages 695-729, September.
    3. Dai Tiantian & Liu Xiangbo & Sun Wei, 2020. "The effects of monetary policy on input inventories," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 20(1), pages 1-34, January.
    4. Shih-Hsien Tseng & Jia-Chen Yu, 2019. "Data-Driven Iron and Steel Inventory Control Policies," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-15, August.
    5. Wouter J. Den Haan & Tiancheng Sun, 2024. "The Role of Sell Frictions for Inventories and Business Cycles," Discussion Papers 2426, Centre for Macroeconomics (CFM).
    6. Chia-Nan Wang & Thanh-Tuan Dang & Ngoc-Ai-Thy Nguyen, 2020. "A Computational Model for Determining Levels of Factors in Inventory Management Using Response Surface Methodology," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(8), pages 1-23, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Inventories;

    JEL classification:

    • E13 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models - - - Neoclassical
    • E22 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Investment; Capital; Intangible Capital; Capacity
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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