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Real Business Cycles

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The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

Abstract

Real business cycles are recurrent fluctuations in an economy’s incomes, products, and factor inputs – especially labour – that are due to non-monetary sources. These sources include changes in technology, tax rates and government spending, tastes, government regulation, terms of trade and energy prices. Most real business cycle (RBC) models are variants or extensions of a neoclassical growth model. One such prototype is introduced. It is then shown how RBC theorists, applying the methodology of Kydland and Prescott (Econometrica 50:1345–1370, 1982), use theory to make predictions about actual time series. Extensions of the prototype model, current issues and open questions are also discussed.

This chapter was originally published in The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics, 2nd edition, 2008. Edited by Steven N. Durlauf and Lawrence E. Blume

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Acknowledgement

I wish to thank Gary Hansen, Lee Ohanian and Ed Prescott for their comments on an earlier draft. The views expressed herein are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis or the Federal Reserve System.

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  1. http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5

    Ellen R. McGrattan

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  1. Ellen R. McGrattan
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    McGrattan, E.R. (2008). Real Business Cycles. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2759-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95121-5_2759-1

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    • Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95121-5

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