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Economics and Finance Seminar: David Meenagh (University of Cardiff)

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Venue: Birkbeck Central

Abstract: Developed economies have experienced slower growth since the 2008 financial crisis, creating fears of "secular stagnation." Rational expectations models have forward-looking bubble solutions, which could cause this; here we investigate the case of Japan. We show that a New Keynesian model with a weak equilibrium growth path driven by pessimism sunspot belief shocks matches economic behaviour. Another possibility is a conventional model where productivity growth has simply slowed down for unknown reasons. Nevertheless, a welfare-optimising approach implies fiscal policy should commit to eliminating the potential sunspot while being prepared to revert to normal policy if inflation rises.

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