Stationarization#

The previous chapters derive all the equations necessary to solve for the steady-state and nonsteady-state equilibria of this model. However, because labor productivity is growing at rate gy as can be seen in the firms’ production function (42) and the population is growing at rate g~n,t as defined in (5), the model is not stationary. Different endogenous variables of the model are growing at different rates. We have already specified three potential budget closure rules (96), (97), and (99) using some combination of government spending Gt and transfers TRt that stationarize the debt-to-GDP ratio.

Table 3 lists the definitions of stationary versions of all the endogenous variables. Variables with a ``^’’ signify stationary variables. The first column of variables are growing at the productivity growth rate gy. These variables are most closely associated with individual variables. The second column of variables are growing at the population growth rate g~n,t. These variables are most closely associated with population values. The third column of variables are growing at both the productivity growth rate gy and the population growth rate g~n,t. These variables are most closely associated with aggregate variables. The last column shows that the interest rates rt, rp,t and rgov,t, and household labor supply nj,s,t are already stationary.

Table 3 Stationary variable definitions. Note: The interest rate rt in firm first order condition is already stationary because Ym,t and Km,t grow at the same rate and pm,t is stationary. Household labor supply nj,s,t[0,l~] is stationary.#

Sources of growth

egyt

N~t

egytN~t

Not growing

b^j,s,tbj,s,tegyt

ω^s,tωs,tN~t

Y^m,tYm,tegytN~t

nj,s,t

bq^j,s,tbqj,s,tegyt

L^m,tLm,tN~t

K^m,tKm,tegytN~t

rt

c^j,s,tcj,s,tegyt

BQ^j,tBQj,tegytN~t

rp,t

c^i,j,s,tci,j,s,tegyt

C^i,tCi,tegytN~t

rgov,t

tr^j,s,ttrj,s,tegyt

K^g,m,tKg,m,tegytN~t

rK,t

ubi^j,s,tubij,s,tegyt

TR^tTRtegytN~t

pi,tp~i,tp~M,t

T^j,s,tTj,s,tegyt

UBI^tUBItegytN~t

ptp~tp~M,t

w^twtegyt

D^tDtegytN~t

pm,tp~m,tp~M,t

rm^j,s,trmj,s,tegyt

RM^tRMtegytN~t

pensions^j,s,tpensionsj,s,tegyt

The usual definition of equilibrium would be allocations and prices such that households optimize (19), (36), (37), and (38), firms optimize (45) and (46), and markets clear (110), (114), (115), (120), (121), and (123). In this chapter, we show how to stationarize each of these characterizing equations so that we can use our fixed point methods described in Sections Steady-state solution method and Stationary non-steady-state solution method of Chapter Equilibrium to solve for the equilibria in the steady-state and transition path equilibrium definitions.

Stationarized Household Equations#

The stationary versions of the household industry-specific goods preferences and demand equations are obtained by dividing both sides of the equations by the productivity growth rate egyt,

(124)#c^j,s,ti=1I(c^i,j,s,tc^min,i,t)αij,s,twithi=1Iαi=1
(125)#c^i,j,s,t=αi([1+τi,tc]pi,tpt)1c^j,s,t+c^min,i,ti,j,s,t
(126)#c^min,i,t{cmin,iegytfort<Tcmin,iegyTfortTi

where (124) is the stationarized Stone-Geary consumption aggregator for composite consumption and (125) is the stationarized household demand for the composite consumption good. The composite price aggregation equation (20) is already stationary.

Note that the only way to stationarize the consumption aggregator (124) and consumption demand (125) is to divide cmin,i by the growth rate egyt. However, cmin,i is already stationary. It is constant for each m. Therefore, the version of c^min,i,t divided by egyt would be changing over time (nonstationary) for gy0. For this reason, we define c^min,i,t in (126) as being constant after the steady-state period T at whatever value it reaches at that period. In most cases with gy>0, that value will be close to zero. But we use c¯min,i=cmin,i/egyT from (126) as the steady-state value of cmin,i.

The stationary version of the household budget constraint (22) is found by dividing both sides of the equation by egyt. For the savings term bj,s+1,t+1, we must also multiply by egy(t+1), which leaves an egy=egy(t+1)egyt in front of the stationarized variable.

(127)#ptc^j,s,t+i=1I(1+τi,tc)pi,tc^min,i+egyb^j,s+1,t+1=(1+rp,t)b^j,s,t+w^tej,snj,s,t...+bq^j,s,t+rm^j,s,t+tr^j,s,t+ubi^j,s,t+pension^j,s,ttax^j,s,tj,tandE+1sE+Swhereb^j,E+1,t=0

Because total bequests BQt in bqj,s,t and total government transfers TRt in trj,s,t grow at both the labor productivity growth rate and the population growth rate, we have to multiply and divide each of those terms by the economically relevant population N~t. This stationarizes total bequests BQ^t, total transfers TR^t, and the respective population level in the denominator ω^s,t.

We stationarize the Euler equations for labor supply (36) by dividing both sides by egy(1σ). On the left-hand-side, egy stationarizes the wage w^t and eσgy goes inside the parentheses and stationarizes consumption c^j,s,t. On the right-and-side, the egy(1σ) terms cancel out.

(128)#w^tej,spt(1τs,tmtrx)(c^j,s,t)σ=χsn(bl~)(nj,s,tl~)υ1[1(nj,s,tl~)υ]1υυj,t,andE+1sE+S

We stationarize the Euler equations for savings (37) and (38) by dividing both sides of the respective equations by eσgyt. On the right-hand-side of the equation, we then need to multiply and divide both terms by eσgy(t+1), which leaves a multiplicative coefficient eσgy,

(129)#(c^j,s,t)σpt=eσgy[χjbρs(b^j,s+1,t+1)σ+βj(1ρs)(1+rp,t+1[1τs+1,t+1mtry]τt+1mtrwpt+1)(c^j,s+1,t+1)σ]j,t,andE+1sE+S1
(130)#(c^j,E+S,t)σpt=eσgyχjb(b^j,E+S+1,t+1)σj,t

where τt+1mtrw is defined in (68) in Section Wealth taxes of Chapter Government.

The stationarized versions of the remittance equations (30) and (31) from Section Remittances in Chapter Households are the following.

(131)#RM^t={αRM,1Y^tfort=1,(1+gRM,t)egy(1+g~n,t)RM^t1for2tTG1,(tTG1TG2TG1)αRM,TY^t+(1tTG1TG2TG1)(1+gRM,t)egy(1+g~n,t)RM^t1forTG1<t<TG2,αRM,TY^ttTG2
(132)#rm^j,s,t=ηRM,j,s,tRM^tλjω^s,tj,s,t

Stationarized Firms Equations#

The nonstationary production function (42) for each industry can be stationarized by dividing both sides by egytN~. This stationarizes output Y^m,t on the left-hand-side. Because the general CES production function is homogeneous of degree one, F(xK,xKg,xL)=xF(K,Kg,L), the right-hand-side of the production function is also stationarized by dividing by egytN~t.

(133)#Y^m,t=F(K^m,t,K^g,m,t,L^m,t)Zm,t[(γm)1εm(K^m,t)εm1εm+(γg,m)1εm(K^g,m,t)εm1εm+...(1γmγg,m)1εm(L^m,t)εm1εm]εmεm1m,t

Notice that the growth term multiplied by the labor input drops out in this stationarized version of the production function. We stationarize the nonstationary profit function (44) in the same way, by dividing both sides by egytN~t.

(134)#PR^m,t=(1τm,tcorp)[F(K^m,t,K^g,m,t,L^m,t)w^tL^m,t]...(rt+δM,t)K^m,t+τm,tcorpδm,tτK^m,t+τm,tinvδM,tK^m,tm,t

The firms’ first order equation for labor demand (45) is stationarized by dividing both sides by egyt. This stationarizes the wage w^t on the left-hand-side and cancels out the egyt term in front of the right-hand-side. To complete the stationarization, we multiply and divide the Ym,tegytLm,t term on the right-hand-side by N~t.

(135)#w^t=pm,t(Zm,t)εm1εm[(1γmγg,m)Y^m,tL^m,t]1εmm,t

It can be seen from the firms’ first order equation for capital demand (46) that the interest rate is already stationary. If we multiply and divide the Ym,tKm,t term on the right-hand-side by egytN~t, those two aggregate variables become stationary. In other words, Ym,t and Km,t grow at the same rate and Ym,tKm,t=Y^m,tK^m,t.

(136)#rt=(1τm,tcorp)pm,t(Zm,t)εm1εm[γmY^m,tK^m,t]1εmδM,t+τm,tcorpδm,tτ+τm,tinvδM,tm,t

A stationary version of the firms’ gross revenue attributed to each factor of production (47) is found by dividing both sides of the equation by egytN~t.

(137)#Y^m,t=MPKm,tK^m,t+MPKg,m,tK^g,m,t+MPL^m,tL^m,tm,t

Note that this implies that both the marginal product of private capital MPKm,t and the marginal product of public capital MPKg,m,t are already stationary, as seen in (48) and (50). However, we see in (49) that the marginal product of labor is growing at rate egyt because of its relationship to the wage wt. The division of both sides of (47) by egytN~t gives us a stationarized marginal product of labor MPL^m,t and a stationarized labor demand L^m,t.

Using the derivation of firm profits when firms are optimizing in (51) and the expressions for optimized stationary revenue (137), we can show the stationary equation for firm profits when firms are optimizing. As before, stationary profits are positive when stationary public capital is positive K^g,m,t>0.

(138)#PR^m,t=(1τm,tcorp)pm,tMPKg,m,tK^g,m,tm,t

Using the derivation from (52) and (53) in Chapter Firms, we can stationarize the terms in the right-hand-side of the expression for rK,t by multiplying and dividing the quotient in the last term by egytN~t. This implies that the interest rate paid out by the financial intermediary on private capital rK,t is stationary, whether the variables on the right-hand-side are non-stationary in (53) or stationarized as in (139).

(139)#rK,t=rt+m=1M(1τm,tcorp)pm,tMPKg,m,tK^g,m,tm=1MK^m,tt

Stationarized Government Equations#

Each of the tax rate functions τs,tetr,xy, τtetr,2 τs,tmtrx, τs,tmtry, and τtmtrw is stationary. The total tax liability function taxj,s,t is growing at the rate of labor productivity growth gy This can be see by looking at the decomposition of the total tax liability function into the effective tax rate times total income (23). The effective tax rate function is stationary, and household income is growing at rate gy. So household total tax liability is stationarized by dividing both sides of the equation by egyt.

(140)#tax^j,s,t=τs,tetr,xy(w^tej,snj,s,t+rp,tb^j,s,t)+τtetr,wb^j,s,tj,tandE+1sE+S

We can stationarize the simple expressions for total government spending on household transfers TRt in (81) and on public goods Gt in (89) by dividing both sides by egytN~t,

(141)#Y^tm=1Mpm,tY^m,tt
(142)#TR^t=gtr,tαtrY^tt
(143)#G^t=gg,tαgY^tt

where the time varying multipliers gg,t and gtr,t, respectively, are defined in (152) and (153) below. These multipliers gg,t and gtr,t do not have a ``^’’ on them because their specifications (96) and (97) that are functions of nonstationary variables are equivalent to (152) and (153) specified in stationary variables.

We can stationarize the expression for total government revenue Revt in (87) by dividing both sides of the equation by egytN~t.

(144)#Rev^t=m=1M[τm,tcorp(pm,tY^m,tw^tL^m,t)τm,tcorpδm,tτK^m,tτm,tinvI^m,t]corporate tax revenue+s=E+1E+Sj=1Jλjω^s,tτs,tetr,xy(x^j,s,t,y^j,s,t)(x^j,s,t+y^j,s,t)household tax revenue+s=E+1E+Sj=1Ji=1Iλjωs,tτi,tcpi,tc^i,j,s,tconsumption tax revenue+s=E+1E+Sj=1Jλjωs,tτtetr,wb^j,s,twealth tax revenuet

Every term in the government budget constraint (88) is growing at both the productivity growth rate and the population growth rate, so we stationarize it by dividing both sides by egytN~t. We also have to multiply and divide the next period debt term Dt+1 by egy(t+1)N~t+1, leaving the term egy(1+g~n,t+1).

(145)#egy(1+g~n,t+1)D^t+1+Rev^t=(1+rgov,t)D^t+G^t+I^g,t+Pensions^t+TR^t+UBI^tt

The stationarized versions of the rule for total government infrastructure investment spending Ig,t in (90) and the rule for government investment spending in each industry in (90) are found by dividing both sides of the respective equations by egytN~t.

(146)#I^g,t=αI,tY^tt
(147)#I^g,m,t=αI,m,tI^g,tm,t

The stationarized version of the law of motion for the public capital stock in each industry Kg,m,t in (92) is found by dividing both sides of the equation by egytN~t then multiply and divide the Kg,m,t+1 term on the left-hand-side by egy(t+1)N~t+1, leaving the term egy(1+g~n,t+1) in the denominator of the right-hand-side.

(148)#K^g,m,t+1=(1δg)K^g,m,t+I^g,m,tegy(1+g~n,t+1)m,t

Stationary aggregate universal basic income expenditure is found in one of two ways depending on how the individual UBI payments ubij,s,t are modeled. In Section Universal basic income of Chapter Government, we discuss how UBI payments to households ubij,s,t can be growth adjusted so that they grow over time at the rate of productivity growth or non-growth adjusted such that they are constant overtime. In the first case, when UBI benefits are growth adjusted and growing over time, the stationary aggregate government UBI payout UBI^t is found by dividing (93) by egytN~t. In the second case, when UBI benefits are constant over time and not growing with productivity, the stationary aggregate government UBI payout UBI^t is found by dividing (93) by only N~t.

(149)#UBI^t={s=E+1E+Sj=1Jλjω^s,tubi^j,s,ttifubij,s,tis growth adjusteds=E+1E+Sj=1Jλjω^s,tubij,s,ttifubij,s,tis not growth adjusted

The expression for the interest rate on government debt rgov,t in (94) is already stationary because every term on the right-hand-side is already stationary. The net return on capital, rK,t is also stationary as shown in (139). The expression for the return to household savings rp,t in (109) is equivalent to its stationary representation because the same macroeconomic variables occur linearly in both the numerator and denominator.

(150)#rp,t=rgov,tD^t+rK,tK^tD^t+K^ttwhereK^tm=1MK^m,t

The long-run debt-to-GDP ratio condition is also the same in both the nonstationary version in (95) as well as the stationary version below because the endogenous side is a ratio of macroeconomic variables that are growing at the same rate, with the exception of already stationary pt.

(151)#D^t=αDY^tD^tY^t=αDfortT

The three potential budget closure rules (96), (97), and (99) are the last government equations to stationarize. In each of the cases, we simply divide both sides by egytN~t.

(152)#G^t=gg,tαgY^twheregg,t={1ift<TG1egy(1+g~n,t+1)[ρdαDY^t+(1ρd)D^t](1+rgov,t)D^tTR^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^tαgY^tifTG1t<TG2egy(1+g~n,t+1)αDY^t(1+rgov,t)D^tTR^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^tαgY^tiftTG2andgtr,t=1t

or

(153)#TR^t=gtr,tαtrY^twheregtr,t={1ift<TG1egy(1+g~n,t+1)[ρdαDY^t+(1ρd)D^t](1+rgov,t)D^tG^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^tαtrY^tifTG1t<TG2egy(1+g~n,t+1)αDY^t(1+rgov,t)D^tG^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^tαtrY^tiftTG2andgg,t=1t

or

(154)#G^t+TR^t=gtrg,t(αg+αtr)Y^tG^t=gtrg,tαgY^tandTR^t=gtrg,tαtrY^twheregtrg,t={1ift<TG1egy(1+g~n,t+1)[ρdαDY^t+(1ρd)D^t](1+rgov,t)D^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^t(αg+αtr)Y^tifTG1t<TG2egy(1+g~n,t+1)αDY^t(1+rgov,t)D^tI^g,tUBI^t+Rev^t(αg+αtr)Y^tiftTG2

Stationarized Pension System Equations#

Stiationarized Notional Defined Contributions Equations#

The stationarized NDC pension amount is given by:

(155)#θ^j,u,t+us={0,if u<R[s=ER1τtpw^tegy(us)ej,snj,s,t(1+gNDC,t)Rs1]δR,t,otherwise

The stationarized derivative of the pension amount it slightly simpler since it involved only current period wages. We give the derivation first.

The FOC for the choice of labor supply is given by:

(11+τj,s,tc)(wtej,sTj,s,tnj,s,t)cj,s,tσ+u=RE+Sβusv=su(1ρv)θj,u,t+usnj,s,tcj,u,t+usσ(11+τj,u,t+usc)=MDUl(nj,s,t)egyt(1σ)

where we now pull the growth factor out of the marginal disutility of labor term to aid in the exposition of the stationarization. To stationarize this equation, we divide both sides through by egyt(1σ).

(11+τj,s,tc)(wtegytej,sTj,s,tnj,s,t)cj,s,tσegyt(σ)+u=RE+Sβusv=su(1ρv)θj,u,t+usnj,s,tegytcj,u,t+usσegyt(σ)(11+τj,u,t+usc)=MDUl(nj,s,t)egyt(1σ)egyt(1σ)

Which we can write as:

(11+τj,s,tc)(w^tej,sTj,s,tnj,s,t)c^j,s,tσ+u=RE+Sβusv=su(1ρv)θ^j,u,t+usnj,s,tc^j,u,t+usσegy(us)(σ)(11+τj,u,t+usc)=MDUl(nj,s,t)

where θ^j,u,t+usnj,s,t is given by:

(156)#θj,u,t+usnj,s,t={τtpw^tej,s(1+gNDC,t)usδR,t,if s<R10,if sR

Stationarized Defined Benefits Equations#

Stationarized pension amount:

(157)#θ^j,u,t+us=[s=RnyR1w^tegy(us)ej,snj,s,tny]×Cy×αDB,  uR

Stationarized pension amount derivative:

(158)#θ^j,u,t+usnj,s,t={0,if s<RCyw^tej,sαDB×Cyny,if RCy<=s<R0,if sR

Stationarized Points System Equations#

Stationarized pension amount:

(159)#θ^j,u,t+us=s=ER1w^tegy(us)ej,snj,s,tvt,  uR

Stationarized pension amount derivative:

(160)#θ^j,u,t+usnj,s,t={w^tej,svt,if s<R0,if sR

Stationarized Market Clearing Equations#

The labor market clearing equation (110) is stationarized by dividing both sides by N~t.

(161)#m=1ML^m,t=s=E+1E+Sj=1Jω^s,tλjej,snj,s,tt

Total savings by domestic households Bt from (111) is stationarized by dividing both sides by egytN~t. The ωs,t1 terms on the right-hand_side require multiplying and dividing by N~t1, which leads to the division of 1+g~n,t.

(162)#B^t11+g~n,ts=E+2E+S+1j=1J(ω^s1,t1λjbj,s,t+isω^s,t1λjb^j,s,t)t

And the total domestic savings constraint (112) is stationarized by dividing both sides by egytN~t.

(163)#K^td+D^td=B^tt

The stationarized law of motion for foreign holdings of government debt (113) and the government debt market clearing condition (114), respectively, are solved for by dividing both sides by egytN~t.

(164)#egy[1+g~n,t+1]D^t+1f=D^tf+ζD(egy[1+g~n,t+1]D^t+1D^t)t
(165)#D^t=D^td+D^tft

The private capital market clearing equation (115) is stationarized by dividing both sides by egytN~t, as is the expression for excess demand at the world interest rate (116) and the exogenous expression for foreign private capital flows (117).

(166)#K^t=K^td+K^tftwhereKt^m=1MK^m,t
(167)#ED^tK,rK^trK^tdtwhereK^trm=1MK^m,tr
(168)#K^tf=ζKED^tK,rt

We stationarize the goods market clearing equations for the first M1 industries (120) and for the Mth industry (121) by dividing both sides by egytN~t. On the right-hand-side, we must multiply and divide the Kt+1d term and the Dt+1f term, respectively, by egy(t+1)N~t+1 leaving the coefficient egy(1+g~n,t+1).

(169)#Y^m,t=C^m,ttandm=1,2,...M1
(170)#Y^M,t=C^M,t+I^M,t+I^g,t+G^t+rp,tK^tf+rp,tD^tf...(egy[1+g~n,t+1]K^t+1fK^tf)(egy[1+g~n,t+1]D^t+1fD^tf)RM^tt

where

(171)#C^m,ti=1Is=E+1E+Sj=1Jω^s,tλjπi,mc^i,j,s,tm,t

and

(172)#I^M,tegy(1+g~n,t+1)m=1MK^m,t+1(1δM,t)m=1MK^m,tt=egy(1+g~n,t+1)K^t+1(1δM,t)K^t=egy(1+g~n,t+1)(K^t+1d+K^t+1f)(1δM,t)(K^td+K^tf)

We stationarize the law of motion for total bequests BQt in (123) by dividing both sides by egytN~t. Because the population levels in the summation are from period t1, we must multiply and divide the summed term by N~t1 leaving the term in the denominator of 1+g~n,t.

(173)#BQ^t=(1+rp,t1+g~n,t)(s=E+2E+S+1j=1Jρs1λjω^s1,t1b^j,s,t)t

The demand side of aggregate consumption C^m,t, aggregate investment I^M,t, and aggregate bequests BQ^t is each indirectly affected by the size of remittances, described equations (30) and (31) in Section Remittances of Chapter Households and in the stationarized versions of those equations (131) and (132) in Section Stationarized Household Equations in this Chapter.