The macroeconomic effects of microeconomic inaction

Objective

A large part of macroeconomics embeds some form of inertial behavior by firms and/or house- holds. Whether it is in price or wage setting, real or financial investment choices, saving or consumption decisions, some element of stickiness leading to inaction ranges in individuals’ choices (in prices, consumption, investment) is often included to reconcile the model with observed individual data. Yet the specific assumptions to model this inertia mostly reflect tractability concerns, while less attention is paid to consistency with observations at the micro level. This issue is important for macroeconomics because different frictions, generating the same individual stickiness, imply different size and persistence in the response of the aggregate economy to macro shocks. Depending on modeling assumptions, the aggregate effects of stickiness range from being negligible to being substantial. We will propose methods so that the frictions will be structurally identified, and their consequences analytically explored.

This project has two broad goals. The first one is to construct tractable macroeconomic models, based on individual behavior, that will yield substantial improvements in matching the patterns on the infrequent and heterogeneous adjustment recently documented in the micro data. In our structural models the micro evidence will serve as an identification device for the proper modeling of the frictions faced by the agents. The second goal is to produce analytical tools to study the transmission of aggregate shocks (in money, interest rates, productivity, asset prices) in economies characterized by adjustment costs and cross-section heterogeneity. In particular, we will develop useful analytical methods to approximate the steady state behavior of an economy with stickiness, and to characterize the economy’s response to aggregate shocks.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: https://op.europa.eu/en/web/eu-vocabularies/euroscivoc.

• social sciences economics and business economics macroeconomics
• social sciences economics and business economics production economics productivity

Programme(s)

Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.

• FP7-IDEAS-ERC - Specific programme: "Ideas" implementing the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Community for research, technological development and demonstration activities (2007 to 2013)

Topic(s)

Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.

• ERC-AG-SH1 - ERC Advanced Grant - Individuals, institutions and markets

Call for proposal

Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.

ERC-2012-ADG_20120411
See other projects for this call

Funding Scheme

Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.

ERC-AG - ERC Advanced Grant

Host institution

Beneficiaries (1)