Animal Spirits and the International Transmission of Business Cycles

47 Pages Posted: 15 Apr 2016

See all articles by Paul De Grauwe

Paul De Grauwe

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research); London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

Yuemei Ji

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB)

Date Written: March 17, 2016

Abstract

It is well-known that the high synchronization of the business cycles among industrial countries cannot easily be replicated in standard open economy macroeconomic models without assuming that the exogenous shocks hitting these countries are highly correlated. We develop a two-country behavioral macroeconomic model where the synchronization of the business cycle is produced endogenously. The main channel of synchronization occurs through a propagation of “animal spirits”, i.e. waves of optimism and pessimism that become correlated internationally. We find that this propagation occurs with relatively low levels of trade integration. We also study the transmission of demand and supply shocks from one country to the other and find that the size of this transmission also depends on animal spirits. As a result, the size of the transmission depends on the timing of the shock.

Keywords: animal spirits, monetary policy, monetary union, business cycle

JEL Classification: E100

Suggested Citation

De Grauwe, Paul and De Grauwe, Paul and Ji, Yuemei, Animal Spirits and the International Transmission of Business Cycles (March 17, 2016). CESifo Working Paper Series No. 5810, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2764806 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2764806

Paul De Grauwe (Contact Author)

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research)

Poschinger Str. 5
Munich, DE-81679
Germany

London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) ( email )

Houghton Street
London, WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom

Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

London
United Kingdom

Yuemei Ji

KU Leuven - Faculty of Business and Economics (FEB) ( email )

Naamsestraat 69
Leuven, B-3000
Belgium

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