Macroeconomic model reference

New Keynesian Core Model

Sticky prices, inflation dynamics, and a Taylor rule make NK the workhorse for monetary-policy transmission and the cleanest first route for curated observables.

DSGE models · Sources

New Keynesian Core sources, papers, and evidence trail

Primary papers, model variants, source notes, and review signals behind the New Keynesian Core page.

References

Academic and research sources

Peer-reviewed papers, books, and research used to ground model mechanisms or contested interpretations.

  1. [S1] Journal of Economic Literature

    The Science of Monetary Policy

    Compact New Keynesian policy framework.

    Academic - Journal of Economic Literature - dated 1999

  2. [S2] Princeton University Press

    Interest and Prices

    Woodford's modern monetary-policy treatment.

    Academic - Princeton University Press - dated 2003

Reference sources

Reference material used for orientation; read primary and academic sources first when claims conflict.

  1. [S3] Reference

    Calvo (1983) -- Staggered Prices in a Utility-Maximizing Framework, introduced the random price-adjustment friction.

    Reference

  2. [S4] Reference

    Taylor (1993) -- Discretion versus Policy Rules in Practice, proposed the Taylor rule for monetary policy.

    Reference

  3. [S5] Reference

    Clarida, Gali, and Gertler (1999) -- The Science of Monetary Policy: A New Keynesian Perspective, canonical three-equation NK synthesis.

    Reference

  4. [S6] Reference

    Woodford (2003) -- Interest and Prices, the definitive treatise on NK monetary theory.

    Reference

  5. [S7] Reference

    Gali (2015) -- Monetary Policy, Inflation, and the Business Cycle (2nd ed.), standard textbook treatment.

    Reference

  6. [S8] Reference

    Smets and Wouters (2007) -- Shocks and Frictions in US Business Cycles: A Bayesian DSGE Approach, the medium-scale estimation benchmark.

    Reference

Research footing

Evidence and data

Use output gaps, inflation, policy rates, expectations, and price rigidity evidence to discipline the three-equation core.

Calibration or measurement

Price stickiness, policy-rule coefficients, discounting, and intertemporal substitution set the transmission pattern.

Boundaries

  • Financial frictions are not automatic.
  • Supply chains and sectoral heterogeneity are compressed.
  • Expectations assumptions are decisive.

Use guidance

When sufficient
Short-run business-cycle responses to monetary, fiscal, and technology shocks when expectations are forward-looking and nominal rigidities anchor inflation. The model handles the full three-equation core plus investment, habits, and partial indexation when estimated in the Smets-Wouters 2003/2007 form. The right tool when the question requires quantifying impulse responses to identified shocks in a framework with microfounded price and wage setting.
When sketch only
Do not use as the primary tool for questions involving financial-crisis amplification, meaningful household wealth heterogeneity, or the cross-sectional distribution of income. The representative-agent assumption compresses all distributional channels; financial frictions require an additional credit block beyond the basic NK structure.
When to switch
Switch to a financial-accelerator DSGE (dsge:financial-accelerator) when credit spreads and balance-sheet amplification drive the cycle. Switch to HANK (dsge:hank-lite) when the distribution of liquid wealth across households is central to the aggregate demand response. Switch to dsge:soe-nk when the economy is small and open and exchange-rate dynamics are decisive.
Falsification signal
Monetary-shock impulse responses with signs or magnitudes that are systematically inconsistent with the model's predictions across plausible identification schemes falsify the structural parameterization. A persistent price puzzle, where a contractionary shock raises inflation for several quarters before any decline, indicates the policy-rule equation or the information set is misspecified, not minor measurement noise.

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Concepts, data, and nearby models

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