We show that an otherwise standard one-sector real business cycle model with variable capital utilization and mild increasing returns-to-scale is able to generate qualitatively as well as quantitatively realistic aggregate fluctuations driven by news shocks to two formulations of future...

This dissertation can be divided into two parts. The first part is motivated by two trends that occurred during the second half of the twentieth century. First, there was a persistent rising trend in medical spending. Second, there was a significant increase in longevity. Chapter 1 presents a...