Metroeconomica最新文献

This paper studies price competition among a given number of capacity-constrained producers of a homogeneous commodity under the efficient rationing rule and constant (and identical) marginal cost until full capacity, when demand is a continuous, non-increasing, and non-negative function defined on the set of non-negative prices and is positive, strictly decreasing, twice differentiable and (weakly) concave when positive. The focus is on general properties of equilibria in the region of the capacity space in which no pure strategy equilibria exist. We study how the properties that are known to hold for the duopoly are generalized to the oligopoly and we highlight the new properties that can arise in asymmetric oligopoly, which include the existence of an atom in the support of the equilibrium strategy of a firm smaller than the largest one, the properties that such an atom entails, the existence of gaps in the supports, and asymmetries in the equilibrium distributions of equally-sized firms smaller than the largest one. Further, we provide results about the boundaries of the supports. Although the characterization of equilibria is far from being complete, this paper provides substantial elements in this direction.

We conduct empirical analyses on Argentina from 1998 to 2023 to provide new evidence that GDP growth rate ultimately depends on the growth rate of autonomous demand, in line with the Sraffian Supermultiplier (SSM). Firstly, we estimate a Vector Equilibrium Correction Model (VECM) to establish the weak exogeneity of autonomous demand components, with output adjusting to long-run deviations between these autonomous components and GDP. Secondly, we test a mechanism adjusting productive capacity to demand based on the flexible accelerator principle. Employing a VAR analysis, we present evidence that investment share is Granger-caused by GDP, supporting the SSM framework.

Using an empirical stock-flow consistent model, we simulate an imported inflationary shock to analyze the macroeconomic impacts on the French economy. Facing the risk of a profit-price-wage spiral; alternative economic policy responses are evaluated. Traditional restrictive monetary policy does not seem well-suited to fight imported inflation as the cost is significant with limited and delayed results. Increased social transfers can help workers support their loss of purchasing power. Reduced Value Added Tax can directly limit the inflation drift, but its concrete implementation may raise difficulties. These measures have a cost for public finances but are affordable if the inflation shock is temporary.

An important feature of the neo-Kaleckian growth theory is that it distinguishes different growth (and demand) regimes: a profit-led regime and a wage-led regime. Both empirical and theoretical research have shown that growth (demand) regimes are not stable. In this study, we show that a change in income distribution can affect the normal capital capacity ratio, which can further cause a (re)switching in growth (and demand) regimes.

This paper presents new series on the evolution of wealth-income ratios in India. I construct a new macro-history dataset, covering the period 1860–2018 and containing historical series on the composition and level of national wealth, national income, savings, investment and prices. These data show a gradual rise in India's national wealth-to-national income ratio (β = W/Y) since the mid-twentieth century, with the main takeoff occurring around the end of the twentieth century. I ascribe this pattern to the steady increase in saving rates since independence which were themselves the consequence of income shifts in favor of higher saving sectors under India's mixed economy era. Prior to 1950, wealth-income ratios fluctuated a lot on account of land prices and low economic growth. These series offer an alternative timeline of wealth concentration in the absence of long-run distributional data. In colonial India, land was dominant in national wealth, and its ownership was concentrated. In recent decades the importance of capital and urban land—both also concentrated in ownership—has increased.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the need of maintaining financial and economic stabilization to mitigate the negative effects of the health crisis. In the context of a currency area, national governments count on national fiscal and macroprudential instruments to stabilize their own economy. Through a DSGE model for a monetary union I assess the welfare implications of different macroprudential-fiscal policy combinations, that are set with stabilization purposes. The findings confirm that for a supply and a demand shock, as the ones responsible for the economic crisis of 2020, the stabilizing policy mix might deteriorate welfare. By contrast, after a financial shock, similar to that of the Great Recession, the stabilizing policy combination strategies always achieve welfare gains.

Developing ideas suggested by James Meade, Harry Johnson and Neil Laing, we argue that when one compares alternative long-period positions, as in the work-horse two commodity, two primary input model, the household's expenditure and the prices of the commodities purchased cannot be treated as independent variables. We call such a full adaptation of households to consistent price configurations ‘full household equilibrium’. It is found that, at both the household and the aggregate levels, the purchased quantity of a ‘normal’ commodity can increase when its relative price rises. This basic result is readily applied both to aspects of welfare theory and to international trade theory.

UEFA EURO 2020 is the first multi-hosting mega-event developed on the entire continent. Often, mega-events concentrated in one place have turned out to have a modest, or adverse, economic impact due to high costs. Therefore, the ex-post assessment of the local impact of the four matches played in Rome as a mega-event is an interesting case study. To this end, we use a Computable General Equilibrium model based on the Lazio regional Social Accounting Matrix. We estimate a significant Gross Domestic Product multiplier at around 1.45. Furthermore, in terms of employment, the event generates an additional net volume equivalent to 9762 full-time jobs per year.

Supermultiplier models, which show how autonomous demand can drive both business cycles and long-run GDP growth, are based on a stability assumption. In this paper I look at recent efforts to justify this assumption, and argue that they are not convincing. The supermultiplier literature generally assumes that business investment reacts very slowly to changes in the state of the economy, but faster adjustment speeds are consistent with US data and can generate instability.