Browsing by Author "Koponen, Kristine"

The cross-country co-movements of economic variables have been documented in the macroeconomic research. This phenomenon has puzzled researchers in the field of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models because the early DSGE models have had challenges in replicating the co-movements of outputs. The thesis approaches the cross-country co-movements of output cycles in DSGE models by introducing correlation to technology shocks. The objective is to study if the correlation in the technology shocks enhances the model's ability to capture the cross-country correlations of empirical data. The thesis presents a two-country DSGE model that is constructed using the results of Galí and Monacelli (2005). The original model of Galí and Monacelli is a small-country model, and in the thesis it is demonstrated how the model is re-constructed as consisting of two large economic regions. Another important modification to the original model is that the thesis presents a distinctive shock process that allows the technology shocks to correlate. This is done by adding a foreign technology shock variable to the domestic technology shock process. The final model is presented as a system of thirteen equations and, as a solution to the system, the dynamics of the model are observed. The results from the model show that the two-country model with correlated shock processes is able to replicate the cross-country correlations of empirical data well. This result is compared to the benchmark model with no shock correlations and the comparison reveals that although the benchmark model succeeds in replicating the cross-country correlations between inflations and nominal interest rates, it does not produce as high output gap correlation as the model with correlated shock processes. The difference between these models is caused by the distinctive shock processes. The technology shocks affect directly the potential output and the real output adjusts slowly as a response to the changes in the expectations. This causes the dynamics in the output cycle. The results of the thesis show evidence that introducing correlation between country-specific technology shocks can enhance the models ability to produce realistic cross-country output co-movements. This result should apply to other models that follow the framework of Galí and Monacelli. The generalization of the results could still be studied further. In addition, including new features to the model would allow for examination of wider variety of shocks.