Uncertainty, Investment, and Industry Evolution

31 Pages Posted: 16 Nov 2001 Last revised: 14 Nov 2022

See all articles by Ricardo J. Caballero

Ricardo J. Caballero

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Robert S. Pindyck

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) - Sloan School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Date Written: September 1992

Abstract

We study the effects of aggregate and idiosyncratic uncertainty on the entry of firms, total investment, and prices in a competitive industry with irreversible investment. We first use standard dynamic programming methods to determine firms' entry decisions, and we describe the resulting industry equilibrium and its characteristics, emphasizing the effects of different sources of uncertainty. We then show how the conditional distribution of prices can be used as an alternative means of determining and understanding the behavior of firms and the resulting industry equilibrium. Finally, we use four-digit U.S. manufacturing data to examine some implications of the model.

Suggested Citation

Caballero, Ricardo J. and Pindyck, Robert S., Uncertainty, Investment, and Industry Evolution (September 1992). NBER Working Paper No. w4160, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=263424

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