How to Compare Taylor and Calvo Contracts: A Comment on Michael Kiley

In a recent paper, Michael Kiley argued that the Calvo model of price adjustment is both quantitatively and qualitatively different from the Taylor model. What we show is that Kiley (along with most other people) are choosing the wrong parameterization to compare the two models. In effect they are comparing the average age of Calvo contracts with the completed length of Taylor contracts. When we compare the average age of Taylor contracts with the average of Calvo, the differences become much smaller and easier to understand. We also show that autocorrelation of output can be larger in a Taylor economy than in the age-equivalent Calvo economy.Calvo; Taylor; contract length

Macroeconomic models and the yield curve: An assessment of the fit

Many have questioned the empirical relevance of the Calvo-Yun model. This paper adds a term structure to three widely studied macroeconomic models (Calvo-Yun, hybrid and Svensson). We back out from observations on the yield curve the underlying macroeconomic model that most closely matches the level, slope and curvature of the yield curve. With each model we trace the response of the yield curve to macroeconomic shocks. We assess the fit of each model against the observed behaviour of interest rates and find limited support for the Calvo-Yun model in terms of fit with the observed yield curve, we find some support for the hybrid model but the Svensson model performs best

A Unified Framework for Using Micro-Data to Compare Dynamic Wage and Price Setting Models

This paper develops a statistical framework of steady-state identities which enable us to match the distributions of durations found in the micro-data to generalized Taylor and Calvo models of time-dependent pricing. We illustrate the approach with the UK micro CPI data for 2006-2009, and employ the pricing models in a simple macromodel. We find that the Generalized Taylor Economy generates a hump shaped response function, whilst the Generalized Calvo does not.price-spell, steady state, hazard rate, Calvo, Taylor

Taking Multi-Sector Dynamic General Equilibrium Models to the Data

We estimate and compare two models, the Generalized Taylor Economy (GTE) and the Multiple Calvo model (MC); that have been built to model the distributions of contract lengths observed in the data. We compare the performances of these models to those of the standard models such as the Calvo and its popular variant, using the ad hoc device of indexation. The estimations are made with Bayesian techniques for the US data. The results indicate that the data strongly favour the GTE.DSGE models, Calvo, Taylor, price-setting.

Second Order Accurate Approximation to the Rotemberg Model Around a Distorted Steady State

Less is known about social welfare objectives when it is costly to change prices, as in Rotemberg (1982), compared with Calvo-type models. We derive a quadratic approximate welfare function around a distorted steady state for the costly price adjustment model. We highlight the similarities and differences to the Calvo setup. Both models imply inflation and output stabilization goals. It is explained why the degree of distortion in the economy influences inflation aversion in the Rotemberg framework in a way that differs from the Calvo setup.Price Stickiness, Rotemberg Model, Costly Price Adjustment.

Persistence and Nominal Inertia in a Generalized Taylor Economy: How Longer Contracts Dominate Shorter Contracts

n this paper we develop the Generalize Taylor Economy (GTE) in which there are many sectors with overlapping contracts of different lengths. We are able to show that even in economies with the same average contract length, monetary shocks will be more persistent when there are longer contracts. In particular we are able to solve the puzzle of why Calvo contracts appear to be more persistent than simple Taylor contracts: it is because the standard calibration of Calvo contracts is not correctPersistence, Taylor contract, Calvo

Long-run Phillips Curve and Disinfation Dynamics: Calvo vs. Rotemberg Price Setting

There is widespread agreement that the two most widely used pricing assumptions in the New-Keynesian literature, i.e., Calvo and Rotemberg price-setting mechanisms, deliver equivalent dynamics. We show that, instead, they entail a very di¤erent dynamics of adjustment after a disin?ation, once non linear simulations are employed. In the Calvo model disin?ation implies output gains, while in the Rotemberg model a disin?ation experiment implies output losses. We show that this is due to the di¤erent wedges created by the nominal rigidities in the two models: between output and hours in the Calvo model, while between output and consumption in the Rotemberg model. More- over, unlike the Calvo model, in the Rotemberg model real wage rigidi- ties cause a signi?cant output slump along the adjustment path, thus restoring a dynamics in line both with the conventional wisdom and the empirical evidence.Disinfation, Sticky Prices, Nonlinearities

Do decreasing hazard functions for price changes make any sense?

A common finding in empirical studies using micro data on consumer and producer prices is that hazard functions for price changes are decreasing. This means that a firm will have a lower probability of changing its price the longer it has kept it unchanged. This result is at odds with standard models of price setting. Here a simple explanation is proposed: decreasing hazards may result from aggregating heterogeneous price setters. We show analytically the form of this heterogeneity effect for the most commonly used pricing rules and find that the aggregate hazard is (nearly always decreasing. Results are illustrated using Spanish producer and consumer price data. We find that a very accurate representation of individual data is obtained by considering just 4 groups of agents: one group of flexible Calvo agents, one group of intermediate Calvo agents and one group of sticky Calvo agents plus an annual Calvo process. JEL Classification: C40, D40, E30hazard function, Heterogeneous Agents, mixture models, price setting models

Interview: Guillermo Calvo

Economists

Generalized Taylor and Generalized Calvo Price and Wage-Setting: Micro Evidence with Macro Implications

The Generalized Calvo and the Generalized Taylor model of price and wage-setting are, unlike the standard Calvo and Taylor counter-parts, exactly consistent with the distribution of durations observed in the data. Using price and wage micro-data from a major euro-area economy (France), we develop calibrated versions of these models. We assess the consequences for monetary policy transmission by embedding these calibrated models in a standard DSGE model. The Generalized Taylor model is found to help rationalizing the hump-shaped response of inflation, without resorting to the counterfactual assumption of systematic wage and price indexation.contract length, steady state, hazard rate, Calvo, Taylor, wage-setting, price-setting