Sudden Stops and Output Drops

19 Pages Posted: 14 Mar 2005 Last revised: 4 Dec 2022

See all articles by Varadarajan V. Chari

Varadarajan V. Chari

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Department of Economics; Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Patrick J. Kehoe

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Research Department; University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Ellen R. McGrattan

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Research Department; University of Minnesota - Twin Cities; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: February 2005

Abstract

In recent financial crises and in recent theoretical studies of them, abrupt declines in capital inflows, or sudden stops, have been linked with large drops in output. Do sudden stops cause output drops? No, according to a standard equilibrium model in which sudden stops are generated by an abrupt tightening of a country's collateral constraint on foreign borrowing. In this model, in fact, sudden stops lead to output increases, not decreases. An examination of the quantitative effects of a well-known sudden stop, in Mexico in the mid-1990s, confirms that a drop in output accompanying a sudden stop cannot be accounted for by the sudden stop alone. To generate an output drop during a financial crisis, as other studies have done, the model must include other economic frictions which have negative effects on output large enough to overwhelm the positive effect of the sudden stop.

Suggested Citation

Chari, Varadarajan V. and Kehoe, Patrick J. and McGrattan, Ellen R., Sudden Stops and Output Drops (February 2005). NBER Working Paper No. w11133, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=666343

Varadarajan V. Chari (Contact Author)

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Department of Economics ( email )

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Patrick J. Kehoe

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Research Department ( email )

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University of Minnesota - Twin Cities - Department of Economics ( email )

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United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) ( email )

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Ellen R. McGrattan

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis - Research Department ( email )

90 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN 55480
United States
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612-340-2356 (Fax)

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

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Minneapolis, MN 55455
United States

National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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United States