Consumer theory still maximizes utility subject to a budget constraint, when in fact 2008 data show that consumer debt is 130% of disposable income. Granger-causality tests confirm Consumption precedence over income. We discuss several features of newer US data, such as the ability to start...

A new two-way map between time domain and numerical magnitudes or values domain (v-dom) provides a new solution to heteroscedasticity. Since sorted logs of squared fitted residuals are monotonic in the v-dom, we obtain a parsimonious fit there. Two theorems prove consistency, asymptotic...

Phillips (1986) provides asymptotic theory for regressions that relate nonstationary time series including those integrated of order 1, I(1). A practical implication of the literature on spurious regression is that one cannot trust the usual confidence intervals. In the absence of prior...

While moving block bootstrap (MBB) has been used for mildly dependent (m-dependent) time series, maximum entropy (ME) bootstrap (meboot) is perhaps the only tool for inference involving perfectly dependent, nonstationary time series, possibly subject to jumps, regime changes and gaps. This brief...

This paper attempts to compare the performance of presidents George W. Bush and Obama in the context of reduction of unemployment by comparing the Beveridge curve tradeoffs between vacancy and unemployment rates. We consider monthly data and measure the output of the economy as gross value of...

Analyzing US economic and foreign aid data from 1967 to 2007, this paper investigates whether adverse economic and financial conditions are negatively linked to official development assistance (ODA). It finds empirical evidence that US ODA has tended to decline as its economic conditions worsen....

In this paper, I investigate whether the numerous debt relief initiatives during the 1990s have had a significant effect on economic growth rates in developing countries. The major initiatives during that time period were negotiated as bilateral agreements under the guidance of the Paris Club of...

In the U.S., mortgage interest deductibility provides a financial incentive for home ownership over renting as well as an incentive to "over-consume" housing since houses are not fungible. Home-ownership is also often promoted as a safe means of wealth creation. We construct and calibrate a...

Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are characterized by liberalization with respect to only a few partners and thus they can potentially clash with, and retard multilateral trade liberalization (MTL). Yet there is almost no systematic evidence on whether the numerous existing PTAs actually...