This study replicates Nijkamp & Poot (2004), henceforth N&P, and performs a variety of robustness checks. Using a sample of fiscal policy studies published between 1983-1998, N&P concluded that certain types of fiscal policies were more likely to confirm prior beliefs about their impact on...

A popular view about social security, dating back to its early days of inception, is that it is a means for young, unemployed workers to "purchase" jobs from older, employed workers. The question we ask is: Can social security, by encouraging retirement and hence creating job vacancies for the...

Many countries around the world have large public pension programs with significant cross-cohort redistribution. This paper provides a rationale for such programs in a lifecycle framework with search and matching frictions in the labor market. In the model, public pension programs alter the age...

We utilize a random-matching model to examine the relationships between market frictions and international trade. In our setting, an individual may choose to search abroad where she may have a cost advantage, but is less likely to meet potential trading partners, owing to higher market...

In this paper, we examine the impact of financial market development on capital accumulation and inflation. In particular, we explore this issue in a setting in which banks provide risk pooling services. Furthermore, money overcomes incomplete information to facilitate transactions between...

In this paper, we examine the impact of competition in the banking industry on ?nancial market activity. In particular, we explore this issue in a setting where banks simultaneously insure individuals against liquid- ity risk and o¤er loans to promote intertemporal consumption smoothing. In...

Empirical evidence indicates that monetary policy is not super-neutral in many countries. In particular, in high in?ation economies, in?ation is negatively related to economic activity. By comparison, in?ation may be positively correlated with output in low in?ation countries. We present a...

The primary objective of this paper is to study the interaction between mon- etary policy, asset prices, and the sources of technological progress. We develop a two sector model in which ?nancial institutions promote risk sharing and ?at money alleviates trade frictions. Since the price of...

Many countries around the world have large public pension programs. Traditionally, these programs have been used to induce retirement by the elderly in order to free up jobs for the young and to redistribute income across generations. This paper provides an efficiency rationale for the...

We use disaggregated data on the components of private fixed investment (PFI) to estimate industry-level responses of real investment and capital prices to unanticipated monetary policy. The response functions derive from a restricted large-scale VAR estimated over 1959-2007. Our results point...