Hysteresis and the Welfare Costs of Business Cycles

Tervala, Juha (2020): Hysteresis and the Welfare Costs of Business Cycles.

Abstract

Lucas (1987, 2003) finds that the welfare costs of business cycles are trivial, 0.008-0.05% of consumption in each period. I analyze the implications of hysteresis for the welfare costs of business cycles by extending the basic New Keynesian model with hysteresis. Hysteresis is defined as the negative effect of the negative, one-percentage point output gap on potential output. The net present value of the welfare cost of a recession in which the deviation of output from the trend is 3% is 0.6% of consumption without hysteresis. If the degree of hysteresis is 0.4, an empirical estimate for OECD countries, the welfare cost increases – by a factor of 121 – to 70%. The study of stabilization policy using New Keynesian models without hysteresis is pointless; the potential benefits of stabilization policy are notable only in the presence of hysteresis.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Business Cycles, Costs of Recessions, Hysteresis, Stabilization Policy
• Subjects: E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E0 - General > E00 - General; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E3 - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles > E32 - Business Fluctuations ; Cycles; E - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics > E6 - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook > E63 - Comparative or Joint Analysis of Fiscal and Monetary Policy ; Stabilization ; Treasury Policy

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