Investment is often irreversible: once installed, capital has little or no value unless used in production. This paper proposes and solves a model of sequential irreversible investment and characterizes the aggregate implications of macroeconomic irreversibility and idiosyncratic uncertainty. If...

A time-varying stochastic devaluation risk is introduced in a model of exchange rate target zones. The model produces realistic patterns of covariation between exchange rates and interest rate differentials, which previous target zone models have been unable to do. A 'drift adjustment' method to...

We characterize infrequent durables stock adjustment by consumers who also derive utility from non-durable consumption flows in the presence of idiosyncratic income uncertainty. The data we analyse include subjective future income uncertainty measures, which we use as instruments in the...

We characterize infrequent durables stock adjustment by consumers who also derive utility from non-durable consumption flows in the presence of idiosyncratic income uncertainty. The data we analyse include subjective future income uncertainty measures, which we use as instruments in the...

Models of labour market equilibrium where forward-looking decisions maximize both profits and labour income on a risk-neutral basis offer valuable insights into the effects of employment protection legislation. Since risk-neutral behaviour in the labour market presumes perfect insurance,...

This paper proposes a model of firms' optimal employment policies under linear adjustment costs. The authors find that firing costs have a larger effect on firms' propensity to fire than to hire, and (slightly) increase average long-run employment. Calibrating the model with realistic parameter...

The authors study positive and normative aspects of steady-state equilibrium in a market where firms of endogenous size experience idiosyncratic shocks and undergo a costly search process to hire workers. The model highlights interactions between job-security provisions and sectoral shocks in...

Models of labour market equilibrium where forward-looking decisions maximizeboth profits and labour income on a risk-neutral basis offer valuable insights intothe effects of employment protection legislation. Since risk-neutral behaviourin the labour market presumes perfect insurance, however,...