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标题：Markups, gaps, and the welfare costs of business fluctuations
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作者：Jordi Galí ; Mark Gertler y J. David López-Salido
期刊名称：Documentos de Trabajo / Banco de España
印刷版ISSN：0213-2710
电子版ISSN：1579-8666
出版年度：2002
卷号：1
出版社：Banco de España
摘要：In this paper we present a simple, theory-based measure of the variations in aggregate economic eﬃciency associated with business ﬂuctuations. We de- compose this indicator, which we refer to as “the gap”, into two constituent parts: a price markup and a wage markup, and show that the latter accounts for the bulk of the ﬂuctuations in our gap measure. We also demonstrate the connection between our gap measure and the gap between ouput and its natural level, a more traditional indicator of aggregate ineﬃciency. Finally, we derive a measure of the welfare costs of business cycles that is directly related to our gap variable. Our welfare measure corresponds to the ineﬃcient component of economic ﬂuctuations, and should thus be interpreted as a lower bound to the costs of the latter. When applied to postwar U.S. data, for some plausi- ble parametrizations, our measure indicates non-negligible welfare losses of gap ﬂuctuations. The results, however, hinge critically on some key parameters, including the intertemporal elasticity of labor supply.
关键词：Key Words: Business Cycles, Countercyclical Markups, Welfare Costs