After 40 years of stability, the homeownership rate -- a target for housing policy -- has steadily increased since 1995. We attempt to understand this increase using a quantitative model to evaluate various suggested explanations. We find that the increase can be explained by mortgage-market...

Over the past decade there has been remarkable progress in developing empirical micro-founded macroeconomic models for monetary policy analysis that feature coherence both to economic theory and to the data. In this paper, we estimate using Bayesian methods a second-generation micro founded...

In this paper we study optimal fiscal and monetary rules in a medium-scale estimated model of the U.S. business cycle. The model features several real and nominal rigidities that have been identfied in the recent literature as salient in explaining observed aggregate fluctuations. The government...

We reformulate the baseline disequilibrium AS-AD model of Asada et al. (2004) to make it applicable for empirical estimation. The model now exhibits a Taylor interest rate rule in the place of an LM curve, a dynamic IS curve and dynamic employment adjustment. It is based on sticky wages and...

In this paper I investigate the sustainability of public debt in Latin- and South-American economies. To this purpose, a Panel VECM framework is proposed that accounts both for heterogeneities and homogenities of the debt dynamics in these countries, as well as takes account of the...

A manifestation of the Federal Reserve Board's increased transparency has been Chairman Greenspan's method of communication. The purpose of this paper is to establish the positive aspects of his speeches, testimonies and FOMC statements on financial market variables. This analysis is undertaken...