A Capital Markets Union (CMU) is the great hope of European policymakers. The plan for a CMU tries to reduce the reliance of European investors on banks and build up a market-based risk-sharing channel between member states. Our empirical analysis raises doubts that this can be achieved through...

Complete financial markets allow countries to share their consumption risks internationally, thereby creating welfare gains through lower volatility of aggregate consumption. This paper empirically looks at international consumption risk sharing and its determinants in a panel of 120 countries...

I build a production-based continuous-time equilibrium model with Markov regime switches. The model is solved in closed-form and endogenously generates the following previously documented patterns: (1) Value stocks yield larger returns than growth stocks that cannot be reconciled by CAPM; (2)...

We develop a general equilibrium model of informational interdependence between financial markets and the real economy, linking economic uncertainty to information production and aggregate economic activities. The mutual learning between financial markets and the real economy creates a strategic...

Regulation is written with the intent of protecting the vulnerable. However, it can cause an undesirable result if written without understanding how the positive intent can have a negative impact. In its present form, the proposed Volcker Rule has the potential of expanding the liquidity crisis...

The intention of regulation is to protect the vulnerable. However, unintended results of regulation can cause the opposite occur. In its present form, the proposed Volcker Rule prohibits proprietary trading and has the potential of continuing the liquidity crisis that aided in the degradation of...

We estimate the effect of electorally induced policy uncertainty on investment in the manufacturing sector. Because state governors exercise considerable influence over legislation and considerable discretion over regulation and permitting, and because the policies relevant to business...

This work presents an original proposal for the reform of the Eurozone architecture according to an approach based on risk sharing (aiming to reach in the long-term the mutualization of public debt). The proposal envisages a new role for the European Stability Mechanism (ESM) which should...

Does economic uncertainty promote the implementation of structural reforms? We answer this question using one of the most exhaustive cross-country panel data set on reforms in six major areas and measuring economic uncertainty with stock market volatility. To address endogeneity concerns, we...

We document a strong asymmetry in the evolution of federal funds rate expectations and map this observed asymmetry into measures of monetary policy uncertainty. We show that periods of monetary policy tightening and easing are distinctly related to downside (policy rate is higher than expected)...