In 1960s - 1980s Japan enjoyed high economic growth. In the early 1990s, however, the growth rate drastically declined and thereafter Japan has been suffering secular stagnation. This paper proposes a dynamic macroeconomic model that can consistently explain such a drastic change in economic...

We consider a dynamic macroeconomic model of households that regard relative affluence as social status. The measure of relative affluence can be the ratio to, or the difference from, the social average. The two specifications lead to quite different results: under the ratio specification full...

Using a dynamic optimization model with status preference this paper shows that depending on the object of people's status preference an economy exhibits a completely opposite performance; permanent growth or persistent stagnation. If the object is a producible asset (viz. real capital), new...

In 1960s-1980s Japan enjoyed high economic growth. In the early 1990s, however, the growth rate drastically declined and thereafter Japan has been suffering secular stagnation. This paper proposes a dynamic macroeconomic model that can consistently explain such a drastic change in economic...

We consider a neoclassical economy where households derive utility from holding wealth. We show that, under some conditions, there can be rational bubbles. Hence, we provide a microfoundation for bubbles that relies on a frictionless infinite-horizon economy without any heterogeneity across...

We consider a neoclassical economy where households derive utility from holding wealth. We show that, under some conditions, there can be rational bubbles. Hence, we provide a microfoundation for bubbles that relies on a frictionless infinite-horizon economy without any heterogeneity across...

We consider a neoclassical economy where households derive utility from holding wealth. We show that, under some conditions, there can be rational bubbles. Hence, we provide a microfoundation for bubbles that relies on a frictionless infinite-horizon economy without any heterogeneity across...

We consider a neoclassical economy where households derive utility from holding wealth. We show that, under some conditions, there can be rational bubbles. Hence, we provide a microfoundation for bubbles that relies on a frictionless infinite-horizon economy without any heterogeneity across...

What are the consequences of the preference for wealth for the accumulation of capital and for the dynamics of wealth inequality? Assuming that wealth per se is a luxury good, inequality tends to rise whenever the interest rate is larger than the economic growth rate. This induces the economy to...