We study macroeconomic implications of uninsured idiosyncratic uncertainty with two applications. The first two essays focus on the consumer bankruptcy, and the third essay is an analysis of prices of housing and financial assets. In the first essay, Quantitative Theory of Unsecured Consumer...

The authors study, theoretically and quantitatively, the general equilibrium of an economy in which households smooth consumption by means of both a riskless asset and unsecured loans with the option to default. The default option resembles a bankruptcy filing under Chapter 7 of the U.S....

We ask two questions related to how access to credit affects the nature of business cycles. First, does the standard theory of unsecured credit account for the high volatility and procyclicality of credit and the high volatility and countercyclicality of bankruptcy filings found in U.S. data?...

We ask two questions related to how access to credit affects the nature of business cycles. First, does the standard theory of unsecured credit account for the high volatility and procyclicality of credit and the high volatility and countercyclicality of bankruptcy filings found in U.S. data?...

Supersedes Working Paper 13-27. Reverse mortgage loans (RMLs) allow older homeowners to borrow against housing wealth without moving. Despite growth in this market, only 2.1% of eligible homeowners had RMLs in 2011. In this paper, the authors analyze reverse mortgages in a calibrated life-cycle...

How important are intergenerational heterogeneity and an aging population for the design of systematic monetary policy? We answer this question using a New-Keynesian business cycle model with overlapping generations of households. Our model features rich heterogeneity; households differ not only...

This paper studies the cyclical properties the standard Mortensen-Pissarides model of labor search and matching embedded in the real business cycles model with capital, risk-averse agents, and lack of private insurance against unemployment risk. The model enables a direct comparison between the...

Most people have probably heard of reverse mortgage loans. But even though these loans have been getting more attention lately, it’s possible that many people still aren’t sure about what reverse mortgages really are. This is not surprising, since reverse mortgages are a relatively new type...

The Great Recession had a large negative impact on the U.S. economy. Asset prices, most notably stock and house prices, declined substantially, resulting in a loss in wealth for many American households. In this article, Makoto Nakajima documents how diverse households were affected in a variety...