A common set of mathematical tools underlies dynamic optimization,
dynamic estimation, and filtering. In Recursive Models of Dynamic Linear
Economies, Lars Peter Hansen and Thomas Sargent use these tools to
create a class of econometrically tractable models of prices and
quantities. They present examples from microeconomics, macroeconomics,
and asset pricing. The models are cast in terms of a representative
consumer. While Hansen and Sargent demonstrate the analytical benefits
acquired when an analysis with a representative consumer is possible,
they also characterize the restrictiveness of assumptions under which a
representative household justifies a purely aggregative analysis.Hansen
and Sargent unite economic theory with a workable econometrics while
going beyond and beneath demand and supply curves for dynamic economies.
They construct and apply competitive equilibria for a class of
linear-quadratic-Gaussian dynamic economies with complete markets. Their
book, based on the
2012 Gorman lectures, stresses heterogeneity, aggregation, and how a
common structure unites what superficially appear to be diverse
applications. An appendix describes MATLAB programs that apply to the
book's calculations.