This paper shows that there are striking implications that stem from including durable goods in otherwise conventional sticky price models. The behavior of these models depends heavily on whether durable goods are present and whether these goods have sticky prices. If long-lived durables have...

We use CEX repeated cross-section data on consumption and income, to evaluate the nature of increased income inequality in the 1980s and 90s. We decompose unexpected changes in family income into transitory and permanent, and idiosyncratic and aggregate components, and estimate the contribution...

I explore the dynamics in overlapping generations models with pure exchange and lump-sum taxes, when the second period after tax endowment is negative, and contrast the characteristics of equilibria to those of models with positive after tax endowments. In particular, if the intertemporal...

The consumer has been on a tightrope since the bursting of the "new economy" bubble, as losses in equity markets have been partly offset by gains in real estate and fiscal support and mortgage refinancing have partly offset increased consumer cautiousness. The consumer will remain on a tightrope...

In this paper we consider an overlapping generations model with endogenous fertility and two-sided altruism and show the limitations of applying commonly used open loop Nash equilibrium in characterizing equilibrium transfers from parents to children in the form of bequest, and transfers from...

This paper explores the consequences of rising returns to human capital investment on the personal savings rate. Over the past two decades, the return to college education has increased relative to high school education leading economists to argue the presence of 'skill biased technological...

CAPITAL ACCUMULATION HAS BEEN EMPHASISED AS THE MAJOR FACTOR GOVERING THE RATE OF DEVELOPMENT. THIS STUDY THEREFORE AIMS EXPLORING IN THE LIGHT OF PAST TRENDS, THE ROLE AND SCOPE OF COMMERCIAL BANKS AS FINANCIAL INTERMEDIARIES IN MOBILIZING DOMESTIC SAVINGS FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE CONSTRAINTS IN...

Suppose an altruistic person, A, is willing to transfer resources to a second person, B, if B comes upon hard times. If B anticipates that A will act in this manner, B will save too little from both agents' point of view. This is the Samaritan's dilemma. The logic of the dilemma has been...

This paper develops a method to estimate jointly the degree of (possibly incomplete) intertemporal consumption smoothing and the degree of (possibly incomplete) international/interregional risksharing. This approach generalizes and improves upon studies that either examine only intertemporal...

This paper examines whether terms of trade shocks have an asymmetric effect on private savings in transition economies. A simple three-period framework is developed to show that, in the presence of binding credit constraints in bad states of nature, savings rates can be sensitive to favorable...