Cyclical Features of the Uzawa-Lucas Endogenous Growth Model

Jesús Vázquez, Universidad del País Vasco
Sergio Iván Restrepo-Ochoa, Universidad de Antioquia

Abstract

This paper analyzes the cyclical properties of a generalized version of the Uzawa-Lucas endogenous growth model. We study the dynamic features of different cyclical components of this model characterized by a variety of decomposition methods. The decomposition methods considered can be classified in two groups. On the one hand, we consider three statistical filters: the Hodrick-Prescott filter, the Baxter-King filter and Gonzalo-Granger decomposition. On the other hand, we use four model-based decomposition methods. The latter decomposition procedures share the property that the cyclical components obtained by these methods preserve the log-linear approximation of the Euler-equation restrictions imposed by the agent's intertemporal optimization problem. The paper shows that both model dynamics and model performance vary substantially across decomposition methods. A parallel exercise is carried out with a standard real business cycle model. The results should help researchers to better understand the performance of the Uzawa-Lucas model in relation to standard business cycle models under alternative definitions of the business cycle.