Striking While the Iron is Cold : Fragility after a Surge of Lumpy Investments

This paper studies the endogenous state dependence of the aggregate investment dynamics stemming from synchronized lumpy investments at the firm level. I develop a heterogeneous-firm real business cycle model where the semi-elasticities of large and small firms’ investments are matched with the empirical estimates. In the model, following a negative TFP shock, the timings of large firms’ lumpy investments are persistently synchronized due to the low sensitivity to the general equilibrium effect, leading to a surge of lumpy investments. After the surge, TFP-induced recessions are especially severe, and the semi-elasticity of the aggregate investment drops significantly