Macro Seminar - Stephen Terry (University of Michigan)
| Dates: | 29 September 2026 |
| Times: | 16:00 - 17:00 |
| What is it: | Seminar |
| Organiser: | School of Social Sciences |
| Who is it for: | University staff |
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Abstract: Idiosyncratic shocks shape firm decisions and the value functions they maximize. Using a comprehensive firm-level dataset, we document significant departures from the widely assumed Gaussian AR(1) stochastic process, including fat-tailed, leptokurtic revenue transitions and lower persistence in the tails. This discrepancy has two key implications. First, these dynamics flatten the revenue-to-value mapping and create a more clustered firm value distribution. Second, solving a canonical general equilibrium heterogeneous firm dynamics model nonparametrically to align with these observed empirical patterns reveals a first-order quantitative impact on the economy’s responsiveness to aggregate shifts. Accurately modeling firm-level shocks is imperative for macroeconomics.
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Hum Bridge St_G7
Humanities Bridgeford Street
Manchester