Modern economic policymaking requires effective communication. In particular, central bankers communicate facts about the economy and aim to shape individuals’ expectations about the economic future and the central bank’s capacity to manage it. To do so effectively, central bankers must...

We assess the effects of monetary policy on bank risk to verify the existence of a risk-taking channel - monetary expansions inducing banks to assume more risk. We first present VAR evidence confirming that this channel exists and tends to concentrate on the bank funding side. Then, to...

The recent global financial crisis has ignited a debate on whether easy monetary conditions can lead to greater bank risk-taking. We study this issue in a model of leveraged financial intermediaries that endogenously choose the riskiness of their portfolios. When banks can adjust their capital...

A group of investors with heterogeneous risk preferences maximize their joint, weighted life-time utility from payouts. Group members' utility weights are endogenously deter- mined at startup. Each member receives a non-tradeable claim that is optimally tailored to her risk preferences. Claims...

We build a general equilibrium model with financial frictions that impede monetary policy transmission. Agents with heterogeneous productivity can increase investment by levering up, which increases liquidity risk due to maturity transformation. In equilibrium, more productive agents choose...