Add to ORKGCyclical contractions are often referred to as inventory cycles, in part because movements in inventories can amplify cyclical fluctuations in output. An unanticipated slowing in demand generally leads to an unintended buildup of inventories: only with a lag do firms adjust production and their actual holding of inventories relative to the desired level. A possible explanation for this accumulation is that the costs of adjusting inventory holdings outweigh the disequilibrium costs, i.e., the cost of temporarily deviating from the equilibrium level of inventories. In this paper, the relative importance of the disequilibrium costs to adjustment costs of inventories is evaluated. An estimate of the rate of inventory adjustment towards its long...