We argue that when fiscal policy is endogenously determined, the incentives of redistributive politics associated with its formulation can endogenously add to the uncertainty and volatility that an economy faces. In particular, small shocks may get translated into large fluctuations. Our...

We study and compare the behavioral consequences of honesty and white lie in communication. An honest agent always recommends the ex post optimal policy to the principal, while a white liar may manipulate information but only for the sake of the principal. We identify the effects of honesty and...

Dynamic factor models and dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models are widely used for empirical research in macroeconomics. The empirical factor literature argues that the co-movement of large panels of macroeconomic and financial data can be captured by relatively few common...

When estimating DSGE models, the number of observable economic variables is usually kept small, and it is conveniently assumed that DSGE model variables are perfectly measured by a single data series. Building upon Boivin and Giannoni (2006), we relax these two assumptions and estimate a fairly...

A major virtue of von Neumann-Morgenstern utility, for example, in the theory of general financial equilibrium (GFE), is that it ensures time consistency: consumption-portfolio plans (for the future) are in fact executed (in the future) - assuming that there is perfect foresight about relevant...