The Steady State of Capital Under Solow Model The Solow Model
The Steady State of Capital Under Solow Model The Solow Model
The Steady State of Capital Under Solow Model The Solow Model
Assumptions:
Labor force and technology are constant
The production function has constant returns to scale
The economy is closed
The steady state of capital under the solow model will be explained by first describing the accumulation
of capital through the production and consumption function and how investment and depreciation can
impact the capital stock.
Y = F (K, L)
zY = zF (zK, zL)
where z is a positive integer and shows that if the amount of capital and labor increases, the amount of
output increases in the same proportion. Substituting z= 1/L, the equation becomes:
This shows that capital per worker is a function of output per labor. The constant returns production
function implies that the output and capital is not affected by the size of an economy. Thereby using per
worker terms, the above equation becomes:
Y = f(k)
y=c+i
People either save their output “s” or consume it “(1-s)”. The output saved can be invested in the
capital, increasing the capital stock of an economy.
y = (1 - s) y + i
i = sy => i = sf(k)
Depreciation:
This is the wear and tear in any form of capital due to its usage.
The more capital you have the more depreciation you are charged
with. This means that the depreciation increases at a constant rate
with the increase in capital. Depreciation = 𝛿k
Investment:
Investment is just a constant fraction “s” of our output “y”. As
established earlier “i = sf(K)”. This can be illustrated by the help of
a graph. We have shown that 30% of your output is devoted to
investment.
4/3/2020 Assignment - 1 L180366 | Emaan Shahid
Δk = sf(K) – 𝛿k
The steady state of capital is achieved when investment = depreciation, i.e. Δk = 0, denoted by “k*”. This
point shows that all the investment is going into repairing and replacing existing capital. There is no new
capital being created. As we have assumed earlier that all other variables are constant. So, if the capital
is not increasing, nothing is increasing. Thus, your economic activity is at zero.
If we are on the left side of the steady state of capital, it means that our investment is greater than our
depreciation and our capital stock grows as the economy has savings to invest in new capital.
However, if we end up on the right side of the steady state, we can see that our depreciation is greater
than our investment and our capital stock shrinks. Either way, we always tend to move towards the
steady state