Empirical Work on Unsettled Issues of Inventory Research

9312239 Maccini库存波动是商业周期的一个重要特征。 然而，库存研究处于一个非常不稳定的状态。 这项研究将集中在两个重要的悬而未决的问题。 其中之一是，生产过程中重要投入品价格大幅上涨形式的成本冲击以及持有缓冲库存的需要是否可以解释库存和生产变动。 现有的工作集中在一小部分制造业，而且只集中在制成品库存上。 本研究的重点是研究生产到订单以及生产到库存，并调查订单积压和库存的相互作用。 此外，它还将审查材料和供应品库存变动与制成品库存变动之间的相互作用。 第二个要分析的问题是信贷市场条件如何影响库存变动。 这对于理解货币政策如何影响经济至关重要。 研究的重点是借贷约束所带来的不完善的信贷市场是否会导致某些企业有有限的信贷，从而影响他们的库存持有行为的模式。 还将建立和使用一个将财务状况数据与库存和销售数据相结合的个别公司数据库。 ***

9312239 Maccini Inventory fluctuations are an important feature of business cycles. Yet inventory research is in a very unsettled state. This research will focus on two important unsettled issues. One is whether cost shocks in the form of significant price increases of important inputs in the production process together with the need to hold buffer stocks can explain inventory and production movements. Existing work has concentrated on a small set of manufacturing industries and solely on finished goods inventories. This research focuses on examining production to order as well as production to stock and investigates the interaction of order backlogs and inventories. Further, it will examine the interaction of movements in inventories of materials and supplies with those of finished goods. The second issue to be analyzed is how do credit market conditions influence inventory movements. This is critical for understanding how monetary policy affects the economy. The research focuses on whether borrowing constraints brought about by imperfections in the credit markets causes certain firms to have limited access to credit which in turn influences their pattern of inventory holding behavior. A data base for individual firms which combines data on financial condition with that on inventories and sales will also be constructed and used. ***