Simple macroeconomic models
The first macroeconomic theory was the quantity theory of money. A simple explanation of hyperinflation using the equation of exchange. This works best on a computer with a speaker using Internet Explorer. It is even better if the computer has a microphone.
Simple macroeconomic computer model for MS Internet Explorer:
The Post-Bubble Malaise of the Janpanese Economy
Topics in macroeconomic theory
The Time Allocation of Consumption
Derivation of the money multiplier
Episodes of hyperinflation
The Imperfect Capital Market Model of the Consumption Function
Suppose a market price p is established by a balance in the quantity demanded and the quantity supplied; i.e., Qs = Qd . The demand function is of the form
Thus Q can be determined and hence L . Therefore we can determine
Let R and W be the interest rate and wage rate, respectively, and
be the depreciation rate on capital. The cost C of using L
units of labor and K units of capital is then
C = WL + (R+
If output is to be Q=AL2/3K1/3 then the least cost combination is
found by minimizing
)K.
C +
with respect to L and K. The first order conditions are:
(Q - AL2/3K1/3)
W -
This means that
(2/3)L-1/3K1/3 = 0
(R+) -
(1/3)AL2/3K-2/3 = 0.
Dividing the first equation by the second gives
the optimal capital/labor ratio as:
(2/3)L-1/3K1/3 = W
(1/3)AL2/3K-2/3 = R+
.
2(K/L) = W/((R+
Thus
))
L = 2((R+
and the output constraint reduces to:
)/W)K
Q = A[2(R+
The desired level of capital is then
)/W]2/3K
K = [2(R+
The parameters can be estimated from recent data.
In 1990 Q=5463 and L=119.55. The level of the capital
stock is not known precisely but estimate of fixed private capital
in 1990 was 18854. There was thus a capital/output ratio
of approximately 3.45.
Thus)/W]-2/3Q/A .
A = Q/L2/3K1/3
The total compensation of employees in 1990 was 3244 so
W = 27.135.
Total depreciation in 1990 was 331.6 so
= 5463/[(119.5)2/3(18854)1/3
= 5463/645.72222 = 8.46
= = 331.6/18854 0.0176.
The payment for capital was 5463 - 3244 = 2219 so the
rate of return on capital was R=0.1177. That means the
total cost of capital was R+
=0.1177+0.0176 = 0.1353.
The optimal capital/output ratio is then
The values of A=8.46, W = 27.135,
= 0.0176, R=0.1177
give an optimal capital/output ratio of 2.55.
The desired level of capital is then
In reality investment may not drop to zero instantly because there are some investment projects partially completed. Usually these investment projects, such as buildings, are completed even though they would not be initiated under the new conditions. What is determined by a comparison of desired capital with surviving capital is investment approvals. Suppose in an investment project 60 percent of the expenditure takes place in the first year after approval and the remaining 40 percent in the second year after approval. If Jt is the investment approvals in year t then the investment in year t is given by:
The previous analysis is based upon a Cobb-Douglas production function
with a labor exponent of 2/3. The analysis can be easily generalized to
an arbitrary labor exponent of . The Cobb-Douglas form
production function is rather special in that it implies a unitary
elasticity of substitution between labor and capital. It would be desirable
to generalize the analysis by using a Constant-Elasticity-of-Substitution
(CES) production function. The parameters of the CES production function
could then be obtained empirically.
Thus the dollar value of the level of exports is inversely related to E; i.e.,
Now suppose we have the demand function for some import to the U.S., say VCR's from Japan,
The effect of a small change in
E on M, M/
E, is given by
The level of imports will also depend upon domestic income and production; i.e.,
Therefore let us specify the import function in the form
The dollar and foreign currency components of international transfer payments and capital flows must be defined separately.
Let USFIF be the dollar level of US financial investment in foreign countries and FFIUS be the foreign currency level of foreign financial investment in the US. The net dollar flow is thus
We see from the form of this equation that it would have been better to work with the reciprocal exchange rate e = 1/E. Thus the Balance of Payment would be
Infinitesimal changes of the exchange rate e due to changes in the the parameter USTF are given by
The capital flows, FFIUS and USFIF, are affected differently by the US real interest rate R; i.e.,
It would be reasonable to presume that if R is inducing foreign financial investment to come into the US there would be no interest rate induced financial investment going out of the U.S. There still may be some outflow for reasons other than advantageous interest rates. This means the functional forms for FFIUS and USFIF are:
As before
Therefore, X-M depends not only upon the real interest rate but on the exchange rate as well. The exchange rate will adjust to whatever level to bring about a balance in the balance of payments. Anything that affects the economy will affect the exchange rate E and thus change NTF and FFI.
The Treaty of Versailles called for Germany to pay the costs of the war damage to the victors. At the end of the war the amount of reparations was not set; this was to be settled in 1921. The amount set was in 1921 at 132 billion gold marks, the equivalent of 32 billion dollars. The annual payments depended upon the time period given to cover the total. In 1924, after the economic consequences of the scheduled payments were found to be disasterous for Germany a new plan for reparations was proposed. (E S It was called the Dawes Plan after an American financier who was instrumental in formulating it. There was a reduction in the total to 121 billion gold marks and the period for payment was extended to 1988. The initial payments were to be one billion gold marks per year and rising to 2.5 billion gold marks by 1928. One can consider the reparations as a requirement to acquire dollar or any other gold-based foreign currency. The reparation payments were an increase in the net transfer to foreigners, NTF. This had two immediate effects. First there was a reduction in income to households and thus a reduction in disposable income. Second there was in the balance of payments an increase in the amount of German currency that was to be traded for foreign currency.
The model is:
The steps in the solution are:
John F. Muth created the principle of rational expectations as a model of how expectations are formed. He asserted that expectations "are essentially the same as the predictions of the relevant economic theory."
Muth was primarily concerned with the rational expectations principle as a guide to formulating commodity market models which would have a stronger theoretical foundation than the cobweb models. The standard cobweb model is:
where PtE is expected price and u is a random influence on the supply and has an expected value of zero.
If the random influences are serially uncorrelated Muth concludes the only sensible expectation is that the expected price is equal to the equilibrium price when the u=0. This is contrary to the cobweb model. If there is serial correlation of the random disturbances then expected price should be an exponentially weighted average of past price; i.e.,
The surprising thing is that the weight parameter
should be
equal to a ratio that depends upon the coefficients in the supply
and demand functions, namely
/(
+
) .
Although Muth formulated the rational expectations principle in the context of microeconomics it has subsequently become associated with macroeconomics and the work of Robert Lucas, Thomas Sargent, Neil Wallace and other neoclassical macroeconomists.
According to this school of macroeconomics any anticpated actions on the part of the monetary authorities will be incorporated into the public's expectations of inflation. Therefore, according to the rational expectations school, "it is only unanticipated growth in the money supply that can make the actual inflation rate diverge from the expected inflation rate." Furthermore, "unemployment can only diverge from its natural rate when people are fooled about the inflation, [therefore] it follows that systematic, anticipated monetary policy has no effect on output or employment."
Consider the equation of exchange in the form
If checking accounts pay interest then the cost of holding funds in checking accounts is the difference between the interest rate on, say, saving accounts and the interest rate on checking accounts. For simplicity let us assume there is no interest on checking accounts.
In the Fisher theory of interest rates the nominal interest rate is
determined as the sum of a real rate of interest and the rate of inflation; i.e.,
R+, where
is the rate of inflation.
By logarithmic differentiation the equation of exchange can be put into the form:
Since
ln(V) = f(R+) the above equation reduces to:
Now we should look at the dependence of money demand on the interest rate.
If wihdrawals are made in amounts of q then the total number of withdrawals in a year is X/q. The average size of the cashholding is q/2 so the interest lost per year is r(q/2), where r is the nominal interest rate. If c is the cost per transaction the total cost per year is:
The value of q which minimizes C is
In the equation of exchange model for inflation we can identify the expenditure X with the per household level of nominal ouput PQ of the economy; i.e., PQ/H where H is the number of households. Thus,
Therefore the differential equation for the rate of inflation is
If we take the real interest constant, the real output constant and the rate of growth of the money supply as constant then the differential equation for the rate of inflation is: