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``` # The Aiyagari Model ```{contents} Contents :depth: 2 ``` In addition to what's in Anaconda, this lecture will need the following libraries: ```{code-cell} ipython3 :tags: [hide-output] !pip install quantecon ``` ## Overview In this lecture, we describe the structure of a class of models that build on work by Truman Bewley {cite}`Bewley1977`. We begin by discussing an example of a Bewley model due to Rao Aiyagari {cite}`Aiyagari1994`. The model features * Heterogeneous agents * A single exogenous vehicle for borrowing and lending * Limits on amounts individual agents may borrow The Aiyagari model has been used to investigate many topics, including * precautionary savings and the effect of liquidity constraints {cite}`Aiyagari1994` * risk sharing and asset pricing {cite}`Heaton1996` * the shape of the wealth distribution {cite}`benhabib2015` * etc., etc., etc. Let's start with some imports: ```{code-cell} ipython3 import matplotlib.pyplot as plt import numpy as np from quantecon.markov import DiscreteDP from numba import jit ``` ### References The primary reference for this lecture is {cite}`Aiyagari1994`. A textbook treatment is available in chapter 18 of {cite}`Ljungqvist2012`. A continuous time version of the model by SeHyoun Ahn and Benjamin Moll can be found [here](https://nbviewer.org/github/QuantEcon/QuantEcon.notebooks/blob/master/aiyagari_continuous_time.ipynb). ## The Economy ### Households Infinitely lived households / consumers face idiosyncratic income shocks. A unit interval of *ex-ante* identical households face a common borrowing constraint. The savings problem faced by a typical household is $$ \max \mathbb E \sum_{t=0}^{\infty} \beta^t u(c_t) $$ subject to $$ a_{t+1} + c_t \leq w z_t + (1 + r) a_t \quad c_t \geq 0, \quad \text{and} \quad a_t \geq -B $$ where * $c_t$ is current consumption * $a_t$ is assets * $z_t$ is an exogenous component of labor income capturing stochastic unemployment risk, etc. * $w$ is a wage rate * $r$ is a net interest rate * $B$ is the maximum amount that the agent is allowed to borrow The exogenous process $\{z_t\}$ follows a finite state Markov chain with given stochastic matrix $P$. The wage and interest rate are fixed over time. In this simple version of the model, households supply labor inelastically because they do not value leisure. ## Firms Firms produce output by hiring capital and labor. Firms act competitively and face constant returns to scale. Since returns to scale are constant the number of firms does not matter. Hence we can consider a single (but nonetheless competitive) representative firm. The firm's output is $$ Y_t = A K_t^{\alpha} N^{1 - \alpha} $$ where * $A$ and $\alpha$ are parameters with $A > 0$ and $\alpha \in (0, 1)$ * $K_t$ is aggregate capital * $N$ is total labor supply (which is constant in this simple version of the model) The firm's problem is $$ max_{K, N} \left\{ A K_t^{\alpha} N^{1 - \alpha} - (r + \delta) K - w N \right\} $$ The parameter $\delta$ is the depreciation rate. From the first-order condition with respect to capital, the firm's inverse demand for capital is ```{math} :label: aiy_rgk r = A \alpha \left( \frac{N}{K} \right)^{1 - \alpha} - \delta ``` Using this expression and the firm's first-order condition for labor, we can pin down the equilibrium wage rate as a function of $r$ as ```{math} :label: aiy_wgr w(r) = A (1 - \alpha) (A \alpha / (r + \delta))^{\alpha / (1 - \alpha)} ``` ### Equilibrium We construct a *stationary rational expectations equilibrium* (SREE). In such an equilibrium * prices induce behavior that generates aggregate quantities consistent with the prices * aggregate quantities and prices are constant over time In more detail, an SREE lists a set of prices, savings and production policies such that * households want to choose the specified savings policies taking the prices as given * firms maximize profits taking the same prices as given * the resulting aggregate quantities are consistent with the prices; in particular, the demand for capital equals the supply * aggregate quantities (defined as cross-sectional averages) are constant In practice, once parameter values are set, we can check for an SREE by the following steps 1. pick a proposed quantity $K$ for aggregate capital 1. determine corresponding prices, with interest rate $r$ determined by {eq}`aiy_rgk` and a wage rate $w(r)$ as given in {eq}`aiy_wgr` 1. determine the common optimal savings policy of the households given these prices 1. compute aggregate capital as the mean of steady state capital given this savings policy If this final quantity agrees with $K$ then we have a SREE. ## Code Let's look at how we might compute such an equilibrium in practice. To solve the household's dynamic programming problem we'll use the [DiscreteDP](https://github.com/QuantEcon/QuantEcon.py/blob/master/quantecon/markov/ddp.py) class from [QuantEcon.py](https://quantecon.org/quantecon-py/). Our first task is the least exciting one: write code that maps parameters for a household problem into the `R` and `Q` matrices needed to generate an instance of `DiscreteDP`. Below is a piece of boilerplate code that does just this. In reading the code, the following information will be helpful * `R` needs to be a matrix where `R[s, a]` is the reward at state `s` under action `a`. * `Q` needs to be a three-dimensional array where `Q[s, a, s']` is the probability of transitioning to state `s'` when the current state is `s` and the current action is `a`. (A more detailed discussion of `DiscreteDP` is available in the [Discrete State Dynamic Programming](https://python-advanced.quantecon.org/discrete_dp.html) lecture in the [Advanced Quantitative Economics with Python](https://python-advanced.quantecon.org) lecture series.) Here we take the state to be $s_t := (a_t, z_t)$, where $a_t$ is assets and $z_t$ is the shock. The action is the choice of next period asset level $a_{t+1}$. We use Numba to speed up the loops so we can update the matrices efficiently when the parameters change. The class also includes a default set of parameters that we'll adopt unless otherwise specified. ```{code-cell} ipython3 class Household: """ This class takes the parameters that define a household asset accumulation problem and computes the corresponding reward and transition matrices R and Q required to generate an instance of DiscreteDP, and thereby solve for the optimal policy. Comments on indexing: We need to enumerate the state space S as a sequence S = {0, ..., n}. To this end, (a_i, z_i) index pairs are mapped to s_i indices according to the rule s_i = a_i * z_size + z_i To invert this map, use a_i = s_i // z_size (integer division) z_i = s_i % z_size """ def __init__(self, r=0.01, # Interest rate w=1.0, # Wages β=0.96, # Discount factor a_min=1e-10, Π=[[0.9, 0.1], [0.1, 0.9]], # Markov chain z_vals=[0.1, 1.0], # Exogenous states a_max=18, a_size=200): # Store values, set up grids over a and z self.r, self.w, self.β = r, w, β self.a_min, self.a_max, self.a_size = a_min, a_max, a_size self.Π = np.asarray(Π) self.z_vals = np.asarray(z_vals) self.z_size = len(z_vals) self.a_vals = np.linspace(a_min, a_max, a_size) self.n = a_size * self.z_size # Build the array Q self.Q = np.zeros((self.n, a_size, self.n)) self.build_Q() # Build the array R self.R = np.empty((self.n, a_size)) self.build_R() def set_prices(self, r, w): """ Use this method to reset prices. Calling the method will trigger a re-build of R. """ self.r, self.w = r, w self.build_R() def build_Q(self): populate_Q(self.Q, self.a_size, self.z_size, self.Π) def build_R(self): self.R.fill(-np.inf) populate_R(self.R, self.a_size, self.z_size, self.a_vals, self.z_vals, self.r, self.w) # Do the hard work using JIT-ed functions @jit def populate_R(R, a_size, z_size, a_vals, z_vals, r, w): n = a_size * z_size for s_i in range(n): a_i = s_i // z_size z_i = s_i % z_size a = a_vals[a_i] z = z_vals[z_i] for new_a_i in range(a_size): a_new = a_vals[new_a_i] c = w * z + (1 + r) * a - a_new if c > 0: R[s_i, new_a_i] = np.log(c) # Utility @jit def populate_Q(Q, a_size, z_size, Π): n = a_size * z_size for s_i in range(n): z_i = s_i % z_size for a_i in range(a_size): for next_z_i in range(z_size): Q[s_i, a_i, a_i*z_size + next_z_i] = Π[z_i, next_z_i] @jit def asset_marginal(s_probs, a_size, z_size): a_probs = np.zeros(a_size) for a_i in range(a_size): for z_i in range(z_size): a_probs[a_i] += s_probs[a_i*z_size + z_i] return a_probs ``` As a first example of what we can do, let's compute and plot an optimal accumulation policy at fixed prices. ```{code-cell} ipython3 # Example prices r = 0.03 w = 0.956 # Create an instance of Household am = Household(a_max=20, r=r, w=w) # Use the instance to build a discrete dynamic program am_ddp = DiscreteDP(am.R, am.Q, am.β) # Solve using policy function iteration results = am_ddp.solve(method='policy_iteration') # Simplify names z_size, a_size = am.z_size, am.a_size z_vals, a_vals = am.z_vals, am.a_vals n = a_size * z_size # Get all optimal actions across the set of a indices with z fixed in each row a_star = np.empty((z_size, a_size)) for s_i in range(n): a_i = s_i // z_size z_i = s_i % z_size a_star[z_i, a_i] = a_vals[results.sigma[s_i]] fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(9, 9)) ax.plot(a_vals, a_vals, 'k--') # 45 degrees for i in range(z_size): lb = f'$z = {z_vals[i]:.2}$' ax.plot(a_vals, a_star[i, :], lw=2, alpha=0.6, label=lb) ax.set_xlabel('current assets') ax.set_ylabel('next period assets') ax.legend(loc='upper left') plt.show() ``` The plot shows asset accumulation policies at different values of the exogenous state. Now we want to calculate the equilibrium. Let's do this visually as a first pass. The following code draws aggregate supply and demand curves. The intersection gives equilibrium interest rates and capital. ```{code-cell} ipython3 A = 1.0 N = 1.0 α = 0.33 β = 0.96 δ = 0.05 def r_to_w(r): """ Equilibrium wages associated with a given interest rate r. """ return A * (1 - α) * (A * α / (r + δ))**(α / (1 - α)) def rd(K): """ Inverse demand curve for capital. The interest rate associated with a given demand for capital K. """ return A * α * (N / K)**(1 - α) - δ def prices_to_capital_stock(am, r): """ Map prices to the induced level of capital stock. Parameters: ---------- am : Household An instance of an aiyagari_household.Household r : float The interest rate """ w = r_to_w(r) am.set_prices(r, w) aiyagari_ddp = DiscreteDP(am.R, am.Q, β) # Compute the optimal policy results = aiyagari_ddp.solve(method='policy_iteration') # Compute the stationary distribution stationary_probs = results.mc.stationary_distributions[0] # Extract the marginal distribution for assets asset_probs = asset_marginal(stationary_probs, am.a_size, am.z_size) # Return K return asset_probs @ am.a_vals # Create an instance of Household am = Household(a_max=20) # Use the instance to build a discrete dynamic program am_ddp = DiscreteDP(am.R, am.Q, am.β) # Create a grid of r values at which to compute demand and supply of capital num_points = 20 r_vals = np.linspace(0.005, 0.04, num_points) # Compute supply of capital k_vals = np.empty(num_points) for i, r in enumerate(r_vals): k_vals[i] = prices_to_capital_stock(am, r) # Plot against demand for capital by firms fig, ax = plt.subplots(figsize=(11, 8)) ax.plot(k_vals, r_vals, lw=2, alpha=0.6, label='supply of capital') ax.plot(k_vals, rd(k_vals), lw=2, alpha=0.6, label='demand for capital') ax.grid() ax.set_xlabel('capital') ax.set_ylabel('interest rate') ax.legend(loc='upper right') plt.show() ```