Investment, autonomous demand and long-run capacity utilization: an empirical test for the Euro Area

This paper reviews and empirically tests the validity of the Sraffian Supermultiplier model (SSM) and the modified Neo-Kaleckian model after the inclusion of autonomous components of aggregate demand. First, we theoretically assess whether the SSM may constitute a complex variant of the Neo-Kaleckian model. In this sense, it is shown that results compatible with the SSM can be obtained by implementing a set of mechanisms in a modified Neo-Kaleckian model. Second, the paper empirically tests the main implications of the models in the Euro Area, based on Eurostat data. In particular, the discussion outlines the short and long-run relation between autonomous demand and output, by testing cointegration and causality with a VECM model. Moreover, the role accounted by both theories to the rate of capacity utilization is empirically assessed, through a time-series estimation of the Sraffian and Neo-Kaleckian investment functions. While confirming the theoretical relation between autonomous demand and output in the long run, the results also show that capacity utilization still plays a key role in the short-run adjustment mechanism.