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The Welfare Gains from Stabilization in a Stochastically Growing Economy with Idiosyncratic Shocks and Flexible Labor Supply

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  • Marcelo Bianconi
  • Stephen J. Turnovsky
Abstract
Stochastic models with economywide shocks imply that the welfare costs of aggregate volatility are negligible. Empirical evidence suggests that the volatility of idiosyncratic shocks is several times that of aggregate shocks. This paper introduces both types of shocks. We find that if in the process of eliminating aggregate risk the policymaker can reduce idiosyncratic risk by an amount suggested by available empirical evidence, the welfare gains from stabilization can become significant. The introduction of idiosyncratic risk has important implications for asset pricing, and in particular may reduce the risk-free rate substantially, through the precautionary savings motive. Many of our results are sensitive both to the degree of risk aversion and to the flexibility of labor supply. The paper highlights the trade-offs involved in analyzing the effects of risk on growth and welfare and on asset pricing, clarifying the need to examine these issues within a unified stochastic general equilibrium framework.
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Suggested Citation

  • Marcelo Bianconi & Stephen J. Turnovsky, 2003. "The Welfare Gains from Stabilization in a Stochastically Growing Economy with Idiosyncratic Shocks and Flexible Labor Supply," Computing in Economics and Finance 2003 277, Society for Computational Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:sce:scecf3:277
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    Cited by:

    1. Gadi Barlevy, 2004. "The Cost of Business Cycles and the Benefits of Stabilization: A Survey," NBER Working Papers 10926, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Posch, Olaf, 2011. "Risk premia in general equilibrium," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(9), pages 1557-1576, September.
    3. Liao, Zhong-Wei & Shao, Jinghai, 2024. "Stability and mean growth rate of stochastic Solow model driven by jump–diffusion process," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    4. Getachew, Yoseph Yilma, 2016. "Credit constraints, growth and inequality dynamics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 364-376.
    5. Getachew, Yoseph Y. & Turnovsky, Stephen J., 2015. "Productive government spending and its consequences for the growth–inequality tradeoff," Research in Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 621-640.
    6. Akdeniz, Levent & Dechert, W. Davis, 2007. "The equity premium in Brock's asset pricing model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 2263-2292, July.
    7. Wälde, Klaus, 2011. "Production technologies in stochastic continuous time models," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 35(4), pages 616-622, April.
    8. Merlin, Giovanni Tondin, 2018. "Entrepreneurship, financial frictions and the welfare gains of business cycles," Textos para discussão 484, FGV EESP - Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Fundação Getulio Vargas (Brazil).
    9. Gadi Barlevy, 2005. "The cost of business cycles and the benefits of stabilization," Economic Perspectives, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, vol. 29(Q I), pages 32-49.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Welfare gains; idiosyncratic shocks; labor supply;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E1 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General Aggregative Models
    • D1 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior
    • G1 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets

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