We analyse optimal saving of risk-averse households when labour income stochastically jumps between two states. The generalized Keynes-Ramsey rule includes a precautionary savings term. A phase diagram analysis illustrates consumption and wealth dynamics within and between states. There is an...

We consider option pricing when dynamic portfolios are discretely rebalanced. The portfolio adjustments only occur after fixed relative variation of the stock price. The stock price follows a marked point process and the market is incomplete. We first characterize the equivalent martingale...

Presidential address for the Twelfth World Congress of the International Economic Association, summarising semi-formally the author's recent work and concerns. Uncertainty and incomplete markets breed demand volatility as well as price and wage rigidities. The conjunction of these leads to...

This paper contributes to the already vast literature on demography-induced international capital flows by examining the role of labor market imperfections and institutions. We setup a two-country overlapping generations model with search unemployment, which we calibrate on EU15 and US data....

We use a calibrated general equilibrium model with heterogeneous labor and search to evaluate the quantitative effects of various labor tax cut scenarios. The focus is on skill heterogeneity combined with downward wage rigidities at the low end of the skill ladder. Workers can take jobs for...

In this paper, we study the implications of assuming different technologies for physical capital accumulation and consumption. More precisely, we assume that physical capital accumulation is relatively more energy-intensive than consumption. We conclude that this hypothesis, together with the...

Significant differences in unemployment in Europe have been observed across skill groups, with the least skilled suffering the highest and most persistent unemployment rates. To identify policies alleviating this problem, we study the impact of reductions in employer social security...

A transition from pay-as-you-go pension systems to more private funded systems is often suggested as a solution to finance pension systems threatened by ageing. This paper analyses alternative potential remedies linked to changes in labour market characteristics, within an international...

Fossil fuel is an essential input throughout all modern economies. The reduced availability of this basic input to production, and the stabilization of greenhouse gases concentration - which requires reductions in fossil fuel energy use - would have a negative impact in GDP and economic growth...

We analyzed the hypothesis about the effectiveness of energy saving technologies to reduce the trade-off between economic growth and energy preservation. In a general equilibrium vintage capital model with embodied energy saving technical progress, we show that the success of energy saving...