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Gaowang Wang(王高望), with Yulei, Luo, Jun Nie, and Eric Young: Rational Inattention and the Dynamics of Consumption and Wealth in General Equilibrium

发布日期:2017-09-21   作者:    浏览次数:

此文发表于Journal of Economic Theory(国际A类经济学期刊)。

Abstract: We propose a recursive utility version of a basic Huggett (1993) model to study the implications of rational inattention (or RI, Sims 2003, 2010) for the cross-sectional dispersion of consumption and wealth (relative to income) in general equilibrium. We find that incorporating RI can significantly improve the model's predictions in both dimensions in general equilibrium. In addition, we find that intertemporal substitution plays an important role in determining the two key dispersion moments via affecting the degree of optimal attention in equilibrium. Finally, we show that alternative models that rely on habit formation, incomplete information about current income, or borrowing constraints are not consistent with the facts we document.

Keywords: Rational Inattention; General Equilibrium; Consumption and Wealth Dispersion.

JEL Classification Numbers: C61; D83; E21.