This paper proposes a welfare criterion for economies in which agents have heterogeneously distorted beliefs. Instead of taking a stand on whose belief is correct, our criterion asserts an allocation to be belief-neutral efficient (inefficient) if it is efficient (inefficient) under any convex...

This paper studies the full equilibrium dynamics of an economy with financial frictions. Due to highly non-linear amplication effects, the economy is prone to instability and occasionally enters volatile episodes. Risk is endogenous and asset price correlations are high in downturns. In an...

This paper provides a theory of money, whose value depends on the functioning of the intermediary sector, and a unified framework for analyzing the interaction between price and financial stability. Households that happen to be productive in this period finance their capital purchases with...

This paper provides a theory of money, whose value depends on the functioning of the intermediary sector, and a unified framework for analyzing the interaction between price and financial stability. Households that happen to be productive in this period finance their capital purchases with...

all projects are funded. In the region of multiplicity, the move from a pooling (socially efficient) equilibrium to a valuation (socially inefficient) equilibrium involves many features of a financial crisis: prices decline (interest spreads rise); real investment declines; unsophisticated...

We measure the response of household spending to the economic stimulus payments (ESPs) disbursed in mid-2008, using special questions added to the Consumer Expenditure Survey and variation arising from the randomized timing of when the payments were disbursed. We find that, on average,...

This paper studies a macroeconomic model in which financial experts borrow from less productive agents in order to invest in financial assets. We pursue three set of results: (i) Going beyond a steady state analysis, we show that adverse shocks cause amplifying price declines not only through...