This article studies the effects of uncertainty shocks on economic activity, focusing on inflation. Using a vector autoregression, I show that increased uncertainty has negative demand effects, reducing GDP and prices. I then consider standard New Keynesian models with Rotemberg‐type and Calvo‐type price rigidities. Despite the belief that the two schemes are equivalent, I show that they generate different dynamics in response to uncertainty shocks. In the Rotemberg model, uncertainty shocks decrease output and inflation, in line with the empirical results. By contrast, in the Calvo model, uncertainty shocks decrease output but raise inflation because of firms' precautionary pricing motive.
In this paper, we argue that macroeconomic uncertainty shocks cause a persistent decline in economic activity, investment in R&D, and total factor productivity. After providing empirical evidence, we build a DSGE model with sticky prices and endogenous growth through investment in R&D. In this framework, uncertainty shocks lead to a short-term fall in demand because of precautionary savings and rising markups. The reduction in the utilised aggregate stock of R&D determines a fall in productivity, which causes a long-term reduction in the main macroeconomic aggregates. When households feature Epstein–Zin preferences, they become averse to these long-term risks affecting their consumption process (long-run risk channel), which severely exacerbates the precautionary savings motive and the overall adverse effects of uncertainty shocks.
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