Why may large economies suffer more at the zero lower bound?

Abstract

This paper compares the consequences of hitting the zero lower bound in small open and large closed economies. I costruct a two-economy New Kenynesian model and calibrate it so that one economy is small and open and the second large and closed. Then I conduct a number of experiments assuming that the zero lower bound binds for one or the other economy. At the ZLB bad shocks are amplified and good shocks dampened. I show that these modifications are much stronger in the large than in the small economy. As a result the large economy may suffer more at the ZLB.