A Rational Inattention Unemployment Trap
Martin Ellison  1@  
1 : University of Oxford [Oxford]  -  Website
Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JD -  United Kingdom

We show that introducing rational inattention into a model with uninsurable unemployment risk can generate multiple steady states, when the same model with full information has a unique steady state. The model features heterogeneity and persistence in household labour market expectations, consistent with survey evidence. In a heterogeneous agent New Keynesian model, we find that rational inattention to the future hiring rate generates a high employment steady state with moderate inflation, and an unemployment trap with very low (but positive) inflation and a low job hiring rate.


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