Equilibrium Models of Endogenous Fluctuations: an Introduction

These lectures comment upon recent theoretical models of endogenous fluctuations in economic dynamics, including both the literature on nonlinear deterministic cycles arid the literature on "sunspot equilibria". Two important themes include (1) reasons to be interested in models of purely endogenous fluctuations, even though actual economics are admittedly subject to exogenous stochastic shocks; and (2) the importance of market imperfections in making possible equilibria characterized by endogenous fluctuations of either of the two types.