We extend the concept of competitive search to an environment where, as is often common, sellers cannot observe the willingness to pay of their clients. This theoretical contribution is applied to model retail trade. We find that in equilibrium the ratio of buyers over sellers exceeds that of...

This paper advances a simple model that emphasizes the diversity of capital types, some of these types are long lived, while others are highly specific. This modeling of capital implies that irreversibility constraints may be strongly binding, thus generating sizable capital losses, even with...

This paper explores the effects of monetary shocks on the allocation of factors of production. We analyze these effects when money plays a role in improving the timing of the transactions undertaken by entrepreneurs. Such improvement is facilitated by money? important role in providing liquidity...

The low velocity of circulation of money implies that households hold more money than they normally spend. This behavior is explained if households face uncertain expenditure needs, so that they have a precautionary motive for holding money. We investigate this motive in a search model where...

This paper advances a model which can account for these five prominent facts of monetary economics. (i) Money is held in non trivial amounts even though it is a dominated asset. (ii) High rates of inflation lead to low rates of growth. (iii) Monetary injections momentarily depress the rate of...

Personal projects, such as a private business or the purchase of a home, influence portfolio choice in two ways. First, financial assets can be used to provide diversification against bad outcomes of personal projects. Second, financial assets can be used to provide liquidity to personal...

If entitlement to Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits must be earned with employment, generous UI is an additional benefit to an employment relationship, so it promotes job creation. If individuals are risk neutral, UI is fairly priced, and the UI system prevents moral-hazard, the generosity of...

This paper advances a highly tractable model with search theoretic foundations for money and neoclassical growth. In the model, manufacturing and commerce are distinct and separate activities. In manufacturing, goods are efficiently produced combining capital and labor. In commerce, goods are...

This paper advances a tractable model designed to understand investment irreversibility in general equilibrium. The tractability of the model allows analytical results which explain the contrast, emphasized in the extant literature (e.g., Coleman [1997]), between the consequences of...

This paper provides a tractable search model with divisible money that encompasses the two frameworks currently used in the literature. Individuals belong to many villages. Inside a village, individuals know each other so financial contracts are feasible. Money is essential to facilitate trade...