NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH
NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH

Investment, Capacity, and Uncertainty: A Putty-Clay Approach

Simon Gilchrist, John C. Williams

NBER Working Paper No. 10446*
Issued in April 2004
NBER Program(s):   ME

We embed the microeconomic decisions associated with investment under uncertainty, capacity utilization, and machine replacement in a general equilibrium model based on putty-clay technology. In the presence of irreversible factor proportions, a mean-preserving spread in the productivity of investment raises aggregate investment, productivity, and output. Increases in uncertainty have important dynamic implications, causing sustained increases in investment and hours and a medium-term expansion in the growth rate of labor productivity.

*Published: Gilchrist, Simon and John C. Williams. "Investment, Capacity, And Uncertainty: A Putty-Clay Approach," Review of Economic Dynamics, 2005, v8(1,Jan), 1-27.

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