Aggregation may be harmful but cannot always be avoided in the analysis of complex econometric models. It should be carried out intelligently by choosing ein aggregative model optimally for modes of aggregation speeified in advance, i.e. minimizing the bias introduced by aggregation and...

Should the generosity of unemployment benefits and the progressivity of income taxes depend on the presence of business cycles? This paper proposes a tractable model where there is a role for social insurance against uninsurable shocks to income and unemployment, as well as inefficient business...

We propose an integrated treatment of the problems of optimal monetary and fiscal policy, for an economy in which prices are sticky and the only available sources of government revenue are distorting taxes. Our linear-quadratic approach allows us to nest both conventional analyses of optimal...