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Price Rigidity and the Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations

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  • Ernesto Pasten
  • Raphael Schoenle
  • Michael Weber

Abstract

We document a novel role of heterogeneity in price rigidity: It strongly amplifies the capacity of idiosyncratic shocks to drive aggregate fluctuations. Heterogeneity in price rigidity also completely changes the identity of sectors from which fluctuations originate. We show these results both theoretically and empirically through the lens of a multi-sector model featuring heterogeneous GDP shares, input-output linkages, and idiosyncratic productivity shocks. Quantitatively, we calibrate our model to 341 sectors and find sectoral productivity shocks can give rise to aggregate fluctuations that are half as large as those arising from an aggregate productivity shock. Heterogeneous price rigidity amplifies the aggregate fluctuations by a factor of more than 2 relative to a flexible-price or homogeneous sticky price economy. Hence, idiosyncratic shocks and heterogeneous price rigidity can account for large parts of aggregate uctuations and there is hope we will not "forever remain ignorant of the fundamental causes of economic fluctuations" (Cochrane (1994)).

Suggested Citation

  • Ernesto Pasten & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2017. "Price Rigidity and the Origins of Aggregate Fluctuations," NBER Working Papers 23750, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23750
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    Cited by:

    1. Pasten, Ernesto & Schoenle, Raphael & Weber, Michael, 2020. "The propagation of monetary policy shocks in a heterogeneous production economy," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 1-22.
    2. Elisa Rubbo, 2023. "Networks, Phillips Curves, and Monetary Policy," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 91(4), pages 1417-1455, July.
    3. Vasco M. Carvalho & Alireza Tahbaz-Salehi, 2019. "Production Networks: A Primer," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 11(1), pages 635-663, August.
    4. Lydia Cox & Gernot J. Müller & Ernesto Pastén & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2024. "Big G," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 132(10), pages 3260-3297.
      • Schoenle, Raphael & Müller, Gernot & Pasten, Ernesto & Weber, Michael, 2020. "Big G," CEPR Discussion Papers 14625, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
      • Lydia Cox & Gernot Müller & Ernesto Pastén & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2020. "Big G," NBER Working Papers 27034, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
      • Lydia Cox & Gernot Muller & Ernesto Pasten & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2020. "Big G," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 878, Central Bank of Chile.
      • Lydia Cox & Gernot J. Müller & Ernesto Pasten & Raphael Schoenle & Michael Weber, 2020. "Big G," Working Papers 2020-36, Becker Friedman Institute for Research In Economics.
      • Lydia Cox & Gernot J. Müller & Ernesto Pasten & Raphael Schoenle, 2020. "Big G," Working Papers 20-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
      • Lydia Cox & Gernot Müller & Ernesto Pasten & Raphael S. Schoenle & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2020. "Big G," CESifo Working Paper Series 8229, CESifo.
    5. Andrew T. Foerster & Eric LaRose & Pierre-Daniel G. Sarte, 2018. "Idiosyncratic Sectoral Growth, Balanced Growth, and Sectoral Linkages," Economic Quarterly, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, issue 2Q, pages 79-101.
    6. Shutao Cao & Wei Dong, 2019. "Production Networks and the Propagation of Commodity Price Shocks," 2019 Meeting Papers 612, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    7. Michael Weber & Ali Ozdagli, 2016. "Monetary Policy Through Production Networks: Evidence from the Stock Market," 2016 Meeting Papers 148, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    8. David Rezza Baqaee & Emmanuel Farhi, 2020. "Productivity and Misallocation in General Equilibrium," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(1), pages 105-163.
    9. Niko Hauzenberger & Michael Pfarrhofer, 2021. "Bayesian State‐Space Modeling for Analyzing Heterogeneous Network Effects of US Monetary Policy," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 123(4), pages 1261-1291, October.
    10. Simon Mongey, 2017. "Market Structure and Monetary Non-Neutrality," 2017 Meeting Papers 184, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Eduardo Davila & Andreas Schaab, 2024. "Welfare Accounting," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 2412, Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, Yale University.
    12. Henkel, Lukas, 2020. "Sectoral output effects of monetary policy: do sticky prices matter?," Working Paper Series 2473, European Central Bank.

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    JEL classification:

    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • O40 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Growth and Aggregate Productivity - - - General

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