This paper proposes a theoretical model of forecasts formation which implies that in presence of information observation and forecasts communication costs, rational professional forecasters might find it optimal not to revise their forecasts continuously, or at any time. The threshold time and...

In this paper, we investigate the effect of real estate prices on productive investment. We build a simple theoretical framework of firms' investment with credit rationing and real estate collateral. We show that real estate prices affect firms' borrowing capacities through two channels. An...

The 2007 sub-prime crisis in the United States, prolonged by a severe economic recession spread over many countries around the world, has led many economic researchers to focus on the recent fluctuations in housing prices and their relationships with macroeconomics and monetary policies. The...

This paper deals with tests of the expectations hypothesis of the term structure on French, German, UK and US short-term interest rates. Three tests are examined: the first is based on forward rates and the other two are based on the interest rates spread. First, we show that the puzzle...

Central banks should dispose of a precise measure of the structural inflation, i.e. the inflation adjusted from the economic cycle. This component of inflation, also called core inflation, is deduced from a structural VAR. Economists agree upon the long-term neutrality of inflation on...

In this paper we give a precise definition of long-run causality in a multivariate non-stationary, possibly cointegrated, framework. A variable is said to be causal for another in the long run if knowledge of the past of the former improves long-run predictions of the latter. In a VAR framework,...

We study in this paper a forecasting model for long-term rates based both on the arbitrage-free hypothesis and the agents' rationality. The long-term rate is expressed as an average of expected short-term rates, which are modelized according to three models: two univariate models (with...

In order to analyse the interest rate transmission mechanism, we study daily Euro-rates term structure for the US, Germany, and the UK between 1983 and 1997. We estimate multivariate VECM-GARCH models, which take into account moste of the usual features of financial data (non-stationarity,...

In this paper, we evaluate the information content of the yield curve as regards future interest rates and inflation in France and Germany. An original data set of long-term zero-coupon interest rates for French and German government bonds was constructed for the period 1980-97. Empirical...

In this paper, we estimate two small, forward-looking, macroeconomic models for the US and Germany and we compare the implied optimal monetary policy rules. Both models have a standard structure: an I-S curve, a Phillips curve, a short term interest-rate rule and a long term interest rate...