It is often assumed that wedges evolve according to VAR(1) in the applications of business cycle accounting (BCA). However, recent research finds that the wedges have no VAR(1) representation in many dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) economies, and that there might be a...

This paper proposes a simple model that formalizes a variant of Ohanian's (2001) conjecture explaining the productivity declines observed in the Great Depression. If a large payment shock like an asset-price collapse renders many firms insolvent, other economic agents become exposed to a higher...