In this paper we discuss a number of challenges for structural macroeconomic models in the light of the Great Recession and its aftermath. It shows that a benchmark DSGE model that shares many features with models currently used by central banks and large international institutions has...

Occasionally binding constraints (OBCs) like the zero lower bound (ZLB) can lead to multiple equilibria, and so to belief-driven recessions. To aid in finding policies that avoid this, we derive existence and uniqueness conditions for otherwise linear models with OBCs. Our main result gives...

House financing has played a prominent role in advanced economies. In addition, most of the banking crises in advanced economies were associated with boom-bust cycles in house prices. Prominent researchers suggest that more grants for household debt reduction would have provided a significant...

We introduce a novel simulated certainty equivalent approximation (SCEQ) method for solving dynamic stochastic problems. Our examples show that SCEQ can quickly solve high-dimensional finite- or infinite-horizon, stationary or non- stationary dynamic stochastic problems with hundreds of state...

We construct the first algorithm for the perfect foresight solution of otherwise linear models with occasionally binding constraints, with fixed terminal conditions, that is guaranteed to return a solution in finite time, if one exists. We also provide a proof of the inescapability of the "curse...

We construct the first algorithm for the perfect foresight solution of otherwise linear models with occasionally binding constraints, with fixed terminal conditions, that is guaranteed to return a solution in finite time, if one exists. We also provide a proof of the inescapability of the "curse...

We present the first necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique perfect-foresight solution, returning to a given steady-state, in an otherwise linear model with occasionally binding constraints. We derive further conditions on the existence of a solution in such models,...

We present the first necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of a unique perfect-foresight solution, returning to a given steady-state, in an otherwise linear model with occasionally binding constraints. We derive further conditions on the existence of a solution in such models,...