Oil dependence and economic instability

We show that dependence on foreign energy can increase economic instability by raising the likelihood of equilibrium indeterminacy, hence making fluctuations driven by self-fulfilling expectations easier to occur. This is demonstrated in a standard neoclassical growth model. Calibration exercises, b...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Conraria, Luís Aguiar (author)
Other Authors: Wen, Yi (author)
Format: workingPaper
Language:eng
Published: 2007
Subjects:
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1822/6104
Country:Portugal
Oai:oai:repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt:1822/6104
Description
Summary:We show that dependence on foreign energy can increase economic instability by raising the likelihood of equilibrium indeterminacy, hence making fluctuations driven by self-fulfilling expectations easier to occur. This is demonstrated in a standard neoclassical growth model. Calibration exercises, based on the estimated share of imported energy in production for several countries, show that the degree of reliance on foreign energy for many countries can easily make an otherwise determinate and stable economy indeterminate and unstable.