Abstract
The existence—under certain conditions—of sunspot equilibria in overlapping generations models is a well-known theoretical result, but a lot of research has still to be made to understand whether and how such equilibria may occur as a consequence of a dynamic process.
In this paper, we explore a model with individuals having simple utility functions and discover situations in which the dynamic processes of expectations and observed prices do not converge in spite of the existence of static equilibria. In other words, unfounded beliefs do still have a permanent influence on the real economy but induce erratic evolutions.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Azariadis C (1981) Self-fulfilling prophecies. Journal of Economic Theory 25:380–396
Azariadis C., Guesnerie R (1982) Prophéties créatrices et persistance des théories. Revue Economique 33:787–806
Chiappori P. A., Guesnerie R (1991) Sunspot equilibria in sequential models. In: Hildenbrand and Sonnenschein (eds) Handbook of Mathematical Economics, vol. IV, pp. 1683–1758
Laffond G., Lesourne J (1990) Dynamics sunspot equilibria. Mimeo CNAM
Woodford M (1990) Learning to believe in sunspots. Econometrica 58:277–308
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Laffond, G., Lesourne, J. The genesis of expectations and of sunspot equilibria. J Evol Econ 2, 211–231 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01202419
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01202419