Collaborative Proposal: From Micro Frictions to Macro Frictions and Back

大量证据表明，许多微观经济决策和行为在本质上是块状的，而不是连续的。本项目将试图回答与微观经济数据这一特征相关的两个广泛问题：微观经济块状的总体影响是什么？以及：标准的宏观计量经济学实践和近似是如何受到微观经济波动的影响的？尽管近年来对这一文献的新一波有见地的贡献，但这类重要模型的总体工作原理和含义仍然有些神秘。一些研究人员得出结论，s模型（典型的非凸调整模型）放大了冲击的反应和持久性，另一些人得出相反的结论，至少在将s模型与线性模型进行比较时，还有一些人得出结论，大块性对宏观经济没有影响。哪种观点是正确的？在什么条件下？该建议的第一部分将确定影响这些模型中总动态的一般原则，并将建立一个均衡框架，以表征经济对不同规模的冲击和在商业周期的不同阶段实施的稳定政策的非线性反应。在提案的第二部分，研究者将评估传统VAR模型在基础微观经济数据是块状时的偏差，并提出解决方法。这一建议的智力价值在于将对经济学中一类重要模型的含义的探索系统化。由于它们的现实性，对具有块状微观经济调整模型的总体影响的研究经历了反复爆发的热情。但由于他们的性格特征很复杂，人们的热情往往会在一段时间后消退。如上所述，我们现在正经历商业周期新一轮上升浪潮的开始，但前几波浪潮中的一些问题在这次浪潮中也可以看到，因为许多结果采取了特定例子和发现的形式，而不是一般命题。如果成功，这一成功将有助于使当前浪潮的贡献更加持久。该提议的更广泛的影响是提供了一组技术，这些技术应该有助于描述和估计广泛的模型类别，其中代理异质性对于聚合模型的工作是重要的和重要的。由于特殊冲击和异质性普遍存在，这包括一系列非常广泛的相关情景。这些工具也应该有助于教学和培养博士生对微观经济非线性和异质性的复杂性和影响。

There is extensive evidence that many microeconomic decisions and actions are lumpy rather than continuous in nature. This project will attempt to answer two broad questions related to this feature of microeconomic data: What is the aggregate impact of microeconomic lumpiness? And: How are standard macroeconometric practices and approximations affected by microeconomic lumpiness? Despite a new wave of insightful contributions to this literature in recent years, the aggregate workings and implications of this important class of models remain somewhat of a mystery. Some researchers conclude that Ss models (the prototypical non-convex adjustment model) amplify the response and persistence of shocks, others conclude the opposite, at least when comparing Ss models with linear models, and yet others conclude that lumpiness has no macroeconomic consequences. Which view is correct? Under what conditions? The first part of the proposal will identify the general principles influencing aggregate dynamics in these model and will build an equilibrium framework to characterize the non-linear response of the economy to shocks of different sizes and stabilization policies implemented in different phases of the business cycle. In the second part of the proposal the investigators will assess the biases in conventional VAR models when the underlying microeconomic data are lumpy, and propose solution methods.The intellectual merit of the proposal is to systematize the exploration of the implications of an important class of models in economics. Because of their realism, research on the aggregate implications of models with lumpy microeconomic adjustment experience repeated bursts of enthusiasm. But because of the complexities involved in their characterization, enthusiasm often winds down after a while. As mentioned above, we are now experiencing the beginning of a new upward wave of the business cycle, but some of the problems of the previous waves are also visible in this one, as many of the results take the form of particular examples and discoveries rather than of general propositions. If successful, this successful should help making the contributions of the current wave more lasting. The broader impact of the proposal is to offer a set of techniques that should be helpful in characterizing and estimating a wide class of models where agents heterogeneity is significant and important for the working of aggregative models. Since idiosyncratic shocks and heterogeneity are pervasive, this includes a very extensive set of relevant scenarios. These tools should also facilitate teaching and training PhD students on the intricacies and implications of microeconomic nonlinearities and heterogeneity.