In this paper I use a multi-period OLG model to study how a demographic shock is distributed among different generations. In particular, I investigate whether a funded pension system allows for a smoother adjustment than an unfunded system. The results suggest that the answer to this question...

In this paper we present an extension of the Taylor model with staggered wages in which wage-setting is also influenced by reference norms (i.e. by benchmark wages). We show that reference norms can considerably increase the persistence of inflation and the extent of real wage rigidity but that...

In this paper I study the relation between real wage rigidity (RWR) and nominal price and wage rigidity. I show that in a standard DSGE model RWR is mainly affected by the interaction of the two nominal rigidities and not by other structural parameters. The degree of RWR is, however,...

A growing economic literature stresses the importance of relative comparisons, e.g., for savings and consumption or happiness. In this literature it is usually assumed that reference standards against which people compare themselves are exogenously given. In contrast findings from social...

Trust in financial institutions is of great importance for financial intermediation. Against this background, we study two questions: Has trust in banks declined during the global financial crisis and what factors determine the level of trust in banks? Employing survey evidence from Austrian...

The paper studies the determinants of unemployment in a two-country model, where real wages are the outcome of the strategic interaction between various institutional players (firms, unions, central banks). We show that: (i) the results derived in the recent literature on this topic are not...

In this paper we perform a meta-analysis of empirical money demand studies involving almost 500 individual money demand estimations. We analyze whether the wide variety of results can be explained by characteristics of the studies, different macroeconomic environments or the imprecision of...

By analyzing almost 1000 money demand estimations this paper attempts to summarize the disperse findings of this literature. Using both descriptive statistics and meta-regressions we derive several stylized facts about the two most prominent determinants of money demand–income and interest...

In this paper, the author deals with the question how to make PAYG pension systems financially resistant to fluctuating fertility rates. The author presents two pension schemes that lead to a permanently balanced budget but differ in the mixture of changes in the contribution rates and...

In this paper I derive the optimal portfolio mix between a funded and an unfunded pension system when people care about their consumption relative to a reference group. Pay-as-you-go systems with fixed contribution rates have the property that pension benefits are tied to labor income. This...