Abstract
‘Sunspots’ is short for an extrinsic random variable, that is, one that does not affect economic fundamentals but can affect economic outcomes. Sunspots are said to matter when the allocation of resources depends in a non-trivial way on the realization of the sunspot random variable. Sunspot equilibria are instances of ‘excess volatility’. They arise even when expectations are fully rational. Separate sources of sunspot equilibria include unbounded time horizons, incomplete markets, restricted market participation, imperfect competition, non-convexities, externalities, asymmetric information and financial indeterminacy. Sunspot equilibria are typically not mere randomizations over certainty equilibria.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Antinolfi, G., and T. Keister. 1998. Options and sunspots in a simple monetary economy. Economic Theory 11: 295–315.
Araújo, A.P., and W.L. Maldonado. 2000. Ergodic chaos, learning, and sunspot equilibria. Economic Theory 15: 163–184.
Arrow, K.J. 1953. Le rôle des valeurs boursières pour la répartition la meilleure des risques. Econométrie 11: 41–7. Colloques Internationaux du CNRS.
Arrow, K.J. 1964. The role of securities in the optimal allocation of risk-bearing. Review of Economic Studies 31: 91–96.
Aumann, R.J. 1974. Subjectivity and correlation in randomized strategies. Journal of Mathematical Economics 1: 67–96.
Aumann, R.J. 1987. Correlated equilibrium as an expression of Bayesian rationality. Econometrica 55: 1–18.
Aumann, R.J., J. Peck, and K. Shell. 1988. Asymmetric information and sunspot equilibria: a family of simple examples. Working paper no. 88–34. Center for Analytic Economics, Cornell University.
Azariadis, C. 1981. Self-fulfilling prophecies. Journal of Economic Theory 25: 380–396.
Azariadis, C., and R. Guesnerie. 1982. Prophéties créatrices et persistence des théories. Revue Economique 33: 787–806.
Azariadis, C., and R. Guesnerie. 1986. Sunspots and cycles. Review of Economic Studies 58: 725–737.
Balasko, Y. 1983. Extrinsic uncertainty revisited. Journal of Economic Theory 31: 203–210.
Balasko, Y. 1990. Equivariant general equilibrium theory. Journal of Economic Theory 52: 18–44.
Balasko, Y., and D. Cass. 1989. The structure of financial equilibrium with exogenous yields: The case of incomplete markets. Econometrica 57: 135–162.
Balasko, Y., D. Cass, and K. Shell. 1995. Market participation and sunspot equilibria. Review of Economic Studies 62: 491–512. Repr. in Equilibrium, ed. D.Walker. London: Edward Elgar, 2000.
Barnett, W., J. Geweke, and K. Shell, eds. 1989. Economic complexity: Chaos, sunspots, bubbles, and nonlinearity. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Basak, S., D. Cass, J.M. Licari, and A. Pavlova. 2006. Multiplicity and sunspots in general financial equilibrium with portfolio constraints. Mimeo/Penn Institute for Economic Research.
Benhabib, J., and R.E. Farmer. 1994. Indeterminacy and increasing returns. Journal of Economic Theory 63: 19–41.
Benhabib, J., and R.E. Farmer. 1996. Indeterminacy and sector-specific externalities. Journal of Monetary Economics 37: 397–419.
Benhabib, J., and K. Nishimura. 1998. Indeterminacy and sunspots with constant returns. Journal of Economic Theory 81: 58–96.
Benhabib, J., and Y. Wen. 2004. Indeterminacy, aggregate demand and the real business cycle. Journal of Monetary Economics 51: 503–530.
Bhattacharya, J., M. Guzman, and K. Shell. 1998. Price level volatility: A simple model of money taxes and sunspots. Journal of Economic Theory 81: 401–430.
Billot, A., A. Chateauneuf, I. Gilboa, and J.-M. Tallon. 2000. Sharing beliefs: Between agreeing and disagreeing. Econometrica 68: 685–694.
Cass, D. 1989. Sunspots and incomplete financial markets: The leading example. In The economics of imperfect competition and employment: Joan Robinson and beyond, ed. G. Feiwel. London: Macmillan.
Cass, D. 1992. Sunspots and incomplete financial markets: The general case. Economic Theory 2: 341–358.
Cass, D., and K. Shell. 1980. In defense of a basic approach. In Models of monetary economies, ed. J. Kareken and N. Wallace. Minneapolis: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis.
Cass, D., and K. Shell. 1982. Les tâches solaires ont-elles de l’importance? Cahiers du séminaire d’économétrie 24: 93–127.
Cass, D., and K. Shell. 1983. Do sunspots matter? Journal of Political Economy 91: 193–227.
Cass, D., and K. Shell. 1989. Sunspot equilibrium in an overlapping-generations economy with an idealized contingent-commodities market. In Economic complexity: Chaos, bubbles and nonlinearity, ed. W.A. Barnett, J. Geweke, and K. Shell. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Chatterji, S., and S. Chattopadhyay. 2006. Functional sunspot equilibria. Journal of Mathematical Economics 42: 22–35.
Chattopadhyay, S. 1996. Pareto optimal improvements for sunspots: The golden rule as a target for stabilization. Economic Theory 8: 123–135.
Chattopadhyay, S., and P. Gottardi. 1999. Stochastic OLG models, market structure, and optimality. Journal of Economic Theory 89: 21–67.
Chattopadhyay, S., and T. Muench. 1999. Sunspots and cycles reconsidered. Economics Letters 63: 67–75.
Chiappori, P.A., and R. Guesnerie. 1989. On stationary sunspot equilibria of order k. In Economic complexity: Chaos, bubbles and nonlinearity, ed. W.A. Barnett, S. Geweke, and K. Shell. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cozzi, G., and P.E. Giordani. 2006. Do sunspots matter under complete ignorance? Research in Economics 60: 148–154.
Dávila, J., P. Gottrdi, and A. Kajii. 2007. Local sunspot equilibria reconsidered. Economic Theory 31: 401–425.
Diamond, D., and P. Dybvig. 1983. Bank runs, deposit insurance, and liquidity. Journal of Political Economy 91: 401–419.
Dos Santas Ferreira, R., and F. Dufourt. 2006. Free entry and business cycles under the influence of animal spirits. Journal of Monetary Economics 53: 311–328.
Ennis, H.M., and T. Keister. 2003. Economic growth, liquidity, and bank runs. Journal of Economic Theory 109: 220–245.
Ennis, H.M., and T. Keister. 2005. Government policy and the probability of coordination failures. European Economic Review 49: 939–973.
Farmer, R.A., and J.-T. Guo. 1994. Real business cycle and the animal spirit hypothesis. Journal of Economic Theory 63: 42–73.
Farmer, R.A., and M. Woodford. 1997. Self-fulfilling prophecies and the business cycle. Macroeconomic Dynamics 1: 740–769.
Forges, F., and J. Peck. 1995. Correlated equilibrium and sunspot equilibrium. Economic Theory 5: 33–50.
Gale, D. 1973. Pure exchange equilibrium of dynamic economic models. Journal of Economic Theory 6: 12–36.
Galí, J. 1994. Monopolistic competition, business cycles, and the composition of aggregate demand. Journal of Economic Theory 63: 73–96.
Garratt, R. 1995. Decentralizing lottery allocations in markets with indivisible commodities. Economic Theory 5: 295–313.
Garratt, R., and T. Keister. 2002. A characterization of robust sunspot equilibria. Journal of Economic Theory 107: 136–144.
Garratt, R., T. Keister, C. Qin, and K. Shell. 2002. Equilibrium prices when the sunspot variable is continuous. Journal of Economic Theory 107: 11–38.
Garratt, R., T. Keister, and K. Shell. 2004. Comparing sunspot equilibrium and lottery equilibrium allocations: The finite case. International Economic Review 45: 351–386.
Goenka, A. 1994a. Fiscal rules and extrinsic uncertainty. Economic Theory 4: 401–416.
Goenka, A. 1994b. Rationing and sunspot equilibria. Journal of Economic Theory 62: 424–442.
Goenka, A., and S. Matta. 2007. Manipulation via endowments and sunspot equilibria. Economic Theory (online).
Goenka, A., and C. Prechac. 2006. Stabilizing sunspots. Journal of Mathematical Economics 42: 544–555.
Goenka, A., and K. Shell. 1997a. When sunspots don’t matter. Economic Theory 9: 169–178.
Goenka, A., and K. Shell. 1997b. Robustness of sunspot equilibria. Economic Theory 10: 79–98.
Gottardi, P., and A. Kajii. 1999. The structure of sunspot equilibria: The role of multiplicity. Review of Economic Studies 66: 713–732.
Grandmont, J.-M. 1985. On endogeneous, competitive business cycles. Econometrica 53: 995–1046.
Grandmont, J.-M. 1986. Stabilizing competitive business cycles. Journal of Economic Theory 40: 57–76.
Gu, C. 2006. Asymmetric information and bank runs. Ithaca: Mimeo/Cornell University.
Guesnerie, R. 1986. Stationary sunspot equilibria in an n-commodity world. Journal of Economic Theory 40: 103–127.
Guesnerie, R., and J.-J. Laffont. 1991. Notes on sunspot equilibria in finite economies. In Essays in honor of E. Malinvaud, ed. P. Champsaur. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Guesnerie, R., and M. Woodford. 1992. Endogenous fluctuations. In Advances in economic theory: Proceedings of the sixth World Congress of the econometric society, ed. J.-J. Laffont. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Hansen, G. 1985. Indivisible labor and the business cycle. Journal of Monetary Economics 16: 309–328.
Harrison, S. 2001. Indeterminacy in a model with sector-specific externalities. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 25: 747–764.
Hens, T. 2000. Do sunspots matter when spot market equilibria are unique? Econometrica 68: 435–441.
Hens, T., and B. Pilgrim. 2004. Sunspot equilibria and the transfer paradox. Economic Theory 24: 583–602.
Jackson, M., and J. Peck. 1991. Speculations and price fluctuations with private, extrinsic signals. Journal of Economic Theory 55: 274–295.
Jaimovich, N. 2007. Firm dynamics and markup variations: Implications for sunspot equilibria and endogenous economic fluctuations. Journal of Economic Theory 137: 300–325.
Jevons, W.S. 1884. Investigations in currency and finance. London: Macmillan.
Kajii, A. 1997. On the role of options in sunspot equilibria. Econometrica 65: 977–986.
Kajii, A. 1998. Sunspots and the sequential regularity of competitive equilibria. Journal of Economic Theory 78: 187–194.
Kajii, A. 2007. Welfare gains and losses in sunspot equilibria. Japanese Economic Review 58: 329–344.
Kajii, A., and T. Ui. 2006. Agreeable bets with multiple priors. Journal of Economic Theory 128: 299–305.
Kamihigashi, T. 1996. Real business cycles and sunspot fluctuations are observationally equivalent. Journal of Monetary Economics 37: 105–117.
Kehoe, T.J., D.K. Levine, and E.C. Prescott. 2002. Lotteries, sunspots, and incentive constraints. Journal of Economic Theory 107: 39–69.
Keister, T. 1998. Money taxes and efficiency when sunspots matter. Journal of Economic Theory 83: 43–68.
Kydland, F.E., and E.C. Prescott. 1982. Time to build and aggregate fluctuations. Econometrica 50: 1345–1370.
Lucas, R.E. Jr. 1972. Expectations and the neutrality of money. Journal of Economic Theory 4: 103–124.
Manuelli, R., and J. Peck. 1990. Exchange rate volatility in an equilibrium asset pricing model. International Economic Review 31: 559–574.
Manuelli, R., and J. Peck. 1992. Sunspot-like effects of random endowments. Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 16: 193–206.
Marimon, R., S.E. Spear, and S. Sunder. 1993. Expectationally driven market volatility: An experimental study. Journal of Economic Theory 61: 74–103.
Mas-Colell, A. 1992. Three observations on sunspots and asset redundancy. In Economic analysis of markets and games, ed. P. Dasgupta, D. Gale, O. Hart, and E. Maskin. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Maskin, E., and J. Tirole. 1987. Correlated equilibria and sunspots. Journal of Economic Theory 43: 364–373.
Peck, J. 1988. On the existence of sunspot equilibria in an overlapping generations model. Journal of Economic Theory 44: 19–42.
Peck, J., and K. Shell. 1989. On the nonequivalence of the arrow-securities game and the contingent-commodities game. In Economic complexity: Chaos, sunspots, bubbles, and nonlinearity, ed. W. Barnett, J. Geweke, and K. Shell. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Peck, J., and K. Shell. 1991. Market uncertainty: Correlated and sunspot equilibria in imperfectly competitive economies. Review of Economic Studies 58: 1011–1029.
Peck, J., and K. Shell. 2003. Equilibrium bank runs. Journal of Political Economy 111: 103–123.
Peck, J., and K. Shell. 2005. Bank portfolio restrictions and equilibrium bank runs, Working paper 99–07. Center for Analytic Economics, Cornell University, Ithaca, July 1999. Revised 25 February 2005.
Pietra, T. 1992. The structure of the set of sunspot equilibria in economies with incomplete financial markets. Economic Theory 2: 321–340.
Prescott, E.C., and K. Shell. 2002. Introduction to sunspots and lotteries. Journal of Economic Theory 107: 1–10.
Prescott, E.C., and R.M. Townsend. 1984a. General competitive analysis in an economy with private information. International Economic Review 25: 1–20.
Prescott, E.C., and R.M. Townsend. 1984b. Pareto optima and competitive equilibria with adverse selection and moral hazard. Econometrica 52: 21–46.
Rigotti, L., and C. Shannon. 2005. Uncertainty and risk in financial markets. Econometrica 73: 203–243.
Rocheteau, G., P. Rupert, K. Shell, and R. Wright. 2007. General equilibrium with nonconvexities money. Journal of Economic Theory (online).
Rogerson, R. 1988. Indivisible labor, lotteries and equilibrium. Journal of Monetary Economics 21: 3–16.
Schmitt-Grohé, S. 1997. Comparing four models of aggregate fluctuations due to self-fulfilling expectations. Journal of Economic Theory 72: 96–147.
Shell, K. 1971. Notes on the economics of infinity. Journal of Political Economy 79: 1002–1011.
Shell, K. 1977. Monnaie et allocation intertemporelle. Communication to the Roy- Malinvaud seminar. Mimeo, Paris, November. (Title and abstract in French, text in English).
Shell, K. 1987. Sunspot equilibrium. In The New Palgrave: A dictionary of economics, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman, vol. 4. New York: Macmillan. Repr. in The New Palgrave: General equilibrium, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman. New York: Macmillan, 1989.
Shell, K., and B.D. Smith. 1992. Sunspot equilibrium. In New Palgrave dictionary of money and finance, ed. J. Eatwell, M. Milgate, and P. Newman, vol. 3. London: Macmillan.
Shell, K., and R. Wright. 1993. Indivisibilities, lotteries, and sunspot equilibria. Economic Theory 3: 1–17.
Smith, B.D. 1988. Legal restrictions, ‘sunspots’, and Peel’s Bank Act: The real bills doctrine versus the quantity theory reconsidered. Journal of Political Economy 96: 3–19.
Smith, B.D. 1989. Legal restrictions, ‘sunspots’, and cycles. Journal of Economic Theory 47: 369–392.
Smith, B.D. 1991. Interest on reserves and sunspot equilibria: Friedman’s proposal reconsidered. Review of Economic Studies 58: 93–105.
Smith, B.D. 1994. Efficiency and determinacy of equilibrium under inflation targeting. Economic Theory 4: 327–344.
Spear, S.E. 1984. Sufficient conditions for the existence of sunspot equilibria. Journal of Economic Theory 34: 360–370.
Spear, S.E. 1985. Rational expectations in the overlapping generations model. Journal of Economic Theory 35: 251–275.
Spear, S.E. 1989. Are sunspots necessary? Journal of Political Economy 97: 965–973.
Spear, S.E. 1991. Growth, externalities, and sunspots. Journal of Economic Theory 54: 215–223.
Spear, S.E., S. Srivastava, and M. Woodford. 1990. Indeterminacy of stationary equilibrium in stochastic overlapping generations models. Journal of Economic Theory 50: 265–284.
Strzalecki, T. 2006. Subjective beliefs and ex-ante agreeable trade. Working paper. Northwestern University.
Suda, S., J.M. Tallon, and A. Villanacci. 1992. Real indeterminacy of equilibria in a sunspot economy with inside money. Economic Theory 2: 309–319.
Tallon, J.-M. 1998. Do sunspots matter when agents are choquet-expected-utility maximisers? Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 22: 357–368.
Tirole. 1985. Asset bubbles and overlapping generations. Econometrica 53: 1071–1100.
Townsend, R.M. 1987. Arrow-Debreu programs as microfundations for macroeconomics. In Advances in economic theory: Fifth World Congress, ed. T. Bewley. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wang, P.F., and Y. Wen. 2006. Imperfect competition and sunspots. Working paper no. 2006-015A. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Wang, P.F., and Y. Wen. 2007. Imperfect competition and indeterminacy of aggregate output. Working paper. Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
Wen, Y. 1998. Capacity utilization under increasing returns to scale. Journal of Economic Theory 81: 7–36.
Woodford, M. 1986. Stationary sunspot equilibria in a finance constrained economy. Journal of Economic Theory 40: 128–137.
Woodford, M. 1990. Learning to believe in sunspots. Econometrica 58: 227–307.
Woodford, M. 1994. Money policy and price level indeterminacy in a cash-inadvance economy. Economic Theory 4: 345–380.
Zilcha, I. 1991. Characterizing efficiency in stochastic overlapping generations models. Journal of Economic Theory 55: 1–16.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Copyright information
© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
About this entry
Cite this entry
Shell, K. (2018). Sunspot Equilibrium. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1362
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1362
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-95188-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-95189-5
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences