Resolving New Keynesian Anomalies with Wealth in the Utility Function

authors・Pascal Michaillat, Emmanuel Saez
date・December 2019
journal・Review of Economics and Statistics
doi・https://doi.org/10.1162/rest_a_00893
abstract・At the zero lower bound, the New Keynesian model predicts that output and inflation collapse to implausibly low levels, and that government spending and forward guidance have implausibly large effects. To resolve these anomalies, we introduce wealth into the utility function; the justification is that wealth is a marker of social status, and people value status. Since people partly save to accrue social status, the Euler equation is modified. As a result, when the marginal utility of wealth is sufficiently large, the dynamical system representing the zero-lower-bound equilibrium transforms from a saddle to a source—which resolves all the anomalies.
illustration・Phase diagrams of the Euler-Phillips system in the New Keynesian (NK) and wealth-in-the-utility New Keynesian (WUNK) models, in normal times and at the zero lower bound (ZLB).