Understanding Real Business Cycles

This brief essay is intended to provide readers with an introduction to the real business cycle approach to business fluctuations. It discusses the basic real business cycle framework; economic growth and business cycles; real business cycles and the 1954–1985 U.S. economy; government policies and suboptimal equilibrium; and the real business cycle research agenda. An appendix presents a more technical summary of the basic neoclassical model presented in the paper.