This paper models flows of foreign direct investment (FDI) in a two country, two sector DSGE framework. The allocation of capital to production capacity abroad is subject to a search-and-matching friction with endogenous capital reallocation. The model is calibrated on observed inflows and outflows of FDI and leads to dynamics of foreign direct investment consistent with the empirical evidence ...

Most quantitative studies of international real business cycle (IRBC) models require the use of approximate solution methods. We solve an IRBC model with incomplete asset markets using King, Plosser and Rebelo’s (1988) linear approximation method. We quantify the additional approximation error brought about by the existence of a unit root in the linear dynamic system and demonstrate that the sy...

T his study investigates the effects of extra-ECOWAS merchandise trade and investment flows on the transmission of business cycles in the selected ECOWAS between 1985 and 2014.  The study finds that total trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) significantly influence the transmission of business cycles with elasticities of 1.1 and 0.7, respectively in the long run. There are little vari...

When capacity utilization is allowed to vary, standard equilibrium theory predicts that demand shocks can generate not only closed-economy business cycles that are previously thought explainable only by technology shocks, but also international business cycles that are more consistent with the data than what can be generated by technology shocks. JEL classi ̄cation: E13, E32, F11, F41.

Over the period 1972-1986, the correlations of GDP, employment and investment between the United States and an aggregate of Europe, Canada and Japan were respectively 0.76, 0.66, and 0.63. For the period 1986 to 2000 the same correlations were much lower: 0.26, 0.03, and -0.07 (real regionalization). At the same time, U.S. international asset trade has significantly increased. For example, betw...

This paper studies conditions under which demand-side shocks can generate realistic business cycles in RBC models. Although highly persistent demand shocks are necessary for generating procyclical investment, variable capacity utilization and habit formation can reduce the required degree of persistence. Keywords: Demand Shocks; Hall’s Residual; Real Business Cycles; Crowding Out; Investment Dy...

This paper introduces a new trade model type. It combines the gravity model, well-known in international economics, with network theory. With this approach, complicated trade networks can be algebraically solved in form of systems of linear (differential) equations. Business cycles and productivity shocks can be represented via complex numbers or the Laplace transformation. With the help of thi...