Indeterminacy in a one-sector model revisited: demand versus supply-side indeterminacy

Abstract

This paper explains how indeterminacy in a one-sector model may arise due to externalities in the disutility of labor supply, which is termed as demand-side indeterminacy. This contrasts supply-side indeterminacy that is driven by externalities in the production function as exemplified by Benhabib and Farmer (Journal of Economic Theory, 1994). For the one-sector models considered, I find that indeterminacy arises more easily from the demand than from the supply side. In addition, demand and supply-side indeterminacy generate different cyclical patterns of wages, a feature that is useful for identifying episodes of self-fulfilling prophecies within the two types of indeterminacy.