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Reexamining the Cyclical Behavior of the Relative Price of Investment

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  • Paul Beaudry
  • Alban Moura
  • Franck Portier

Abstract

The cyclical behavior of the relative price of investment goods plays an important role in many modern macroeconomic models. In this paper we examine the behavior of several measures of the relative price of investment goods for the U.S. economy over the last fifty years. In particular, we examine whether there are robust cyclical patterns, whether results differ by sub-sample and whether the nature of the deflator matters. Our main result is that there is no robust evidence that this relative price is countercyclical in the data. In fact, for the recent (post-Volcker) period, the relative price of investment appears predominantly procyclical. When looking at more disaggregated series, most measures are procyclical, a few acyclical, and only the price of equipment is significantly countercyclical for some periods and measures. The procyclical behavior of the relative price of aggregate investment is also shown to characterize six other countries of the G7.

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  • Paul Beaudry & Alban Moura & Franck Portier, 2014. "Reexamining the Cyclical Behavior of the Relative Price of Investment," NBER Working Papers 20550, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:20550
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    Cited by:

    1. Alban Moura, 2018. "Investment Shocks, Sticky Prices, and the Endogenous Relative Price of Investment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 27, pages 48-63, January.
    2. Cho, Daeha & Kim, Kwang Hwan, 2022. "Inefficient relative price fluctuations," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    3. Correa-López, Mónica & de Blas, Beatriz, 2021. "Faraway, so close! International transmission in the medium-term cycle of advanced economies," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 132(C).
    4. Cep Jandi Anwar & Indra Suhendra, 2023. "Measuring Response of Stock Market to Central Bank Independence Shock," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(1), pages 21582440231, February.
    5. Alban Moura, 2018. "Investment Shocks, Sticky Prices, and the Endogenous Relative Price of Investment," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 27, pages 48-63, January.
    6. Alban Moura, 2020. "Total factor productivity and the measurement of neutral technology," BCL working papers 143, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    7. Khan, Hashmat & Metaxoglou, Konstantinos & Knittel, Christopher R. & Papineau, Maya, 2019. "Carbon emissions and business cycles," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 1-19.
    8. Been‐Lon Chen & Shian‐Yu Liao, 2018. "Durable Goods, Investment Shocks, and the Comovement Problem," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(2-3), pages 377-406, March.
    9. Liao, Shian-Yu & Chen, Been-Lon, 2023. "News shocks to investment-specific technology in business cycles," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 152(C).
    10. Moura, Alban, 2021. "Are neutral and investment-specific technology shocks correlated?," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Guerrazzi, Marco & Candido, Giuseppe, 2023. "The determination of the price of capital goods: A differential game approach," MPRA Paper 119118, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    JEL classification:

    • E3 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles

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