This paper shows that the mathematical structure of the most widely used New Economic Geography models is the same, irrespective of the underlying agglomeration mechanism assumed (factor migration, input-output linkages, endogenous capital accumulation). This enables us to provide analytical...

A group of P identical managers has to make a choice between N alternatives. They benefit from reaching the decision quickly. In order to learn which is the best option, the alternatives have to be compared. A manager is able to identify the better one of two alternatives only with a certain...

We take the hierarchical resource allocation model in Van Zandt (2003a) and derive a simpler, reduced-form model of balanced hierarchies. This model uses continuous approximations; we derive bounds on the errors due to these approximations. We then give results that indicate that optimal...

Companion papers develop a model of real-time hierarchical computation of resource allocations by boundedly rational members of an administrative staff. The nodes of a hierarchy are multi-person decision-making units offices. The current Paper uses a reduced form to address specific questions...

This paper develops an adaptive learning formulation of an extension to the Ball, Mankiw and Reis (2005) sticky information model that incorporates endogenous inattention. We show that, following an exogenous increase in the policymaker's preferences for price vs. output stability, the learning...

We examine existence and stability under learning of sunspot equilibria in a New Keynesian model incorporating inertia. Indeterminacy remains prevalent, stable sunspots abound, and inertia in IS and AS relations do not significantly impact the policy region containing stable sunspots.

This paper addresses the output-price volatility puzzle by studying the interaction of optimal monetary policy and agents' beliefs. We assume that agents choose their information acquisition rate by minimizing a loss function that depends on expected forecast errors and information costs....

Forward-looking monetary models with Taylor-type interest rate rules are known to generate indeterminacies, with a potential dependence on extraneous "sunspots," for some structural and policy parameters. We investigate the stability of these solutions under adaptive learning, focusing on...

We extend common factor analysis to a multi-dimensional setting by considering a bivariate reduced form consistent with many Real Business Cycle type models. We show how to obtain new representations of sunspots and find that there are parameter regions in which these sunspots are stable under...

A striking implication of the replacement of adaptive expectations by Rational Expectations was the "Lucas Critique," which showed that expectation parameters, and endogenous variable dynamics, depend on policy parameters. We consider this issue from the vantage point of a bounded rationality,...