Aggregate demand,sunk costs and discontinuous adjustments in an amended new consensus model

In standard new consensus macroeconomics models, the impact of shocks disappears until the economy reaches a time-independent steady-state equilibrium. Introducing sunk costs and capital indivisibilities in capacity adjustment decisions implies the rejection of asymptotic stability and a reconsideration of the relevance and usefulness of traditional steady-state analysis based on a fixed and exogenous ‘center of gravity’. Moreover, effective demand and Keynesian discretionary policies regain a central role in economic policy by determining the transient equilibriums that emerge endogenously.