Beschreibung:
The empirical literature on models of cyclical growth and distribution still lacks an explicit treatment of capital accumulation. Further, and from different theoretical perspectives, residential investment is seen as a critical driver of the business cycle. This paper addresses both issues. First, through four and five-dimensional Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) models, cyclical trajectories derived from impulse-response functions confirm profit-led demand and profit-squeeze distribution regimes, in accordance with the cyclical stylized facts in the vein of Goodwin’s original distributive cycle. Second, we split aggregate investment into residential and nonresidential categories. Results confirm that residential investment leads the cycle, whereas nonresidential investment lags it. Finally, we emphasize that a large majority of residential investment is undertaken by corporations—rather than households—and therefore driven by similar concerns over demand and profitability as nonresidential (capacity-creating) investment