This paper proposes an integrated framework to analyze jointly two key issues: the emergence of global imbalances and the precautionary motive for accumulating reserves. Standard models of general equilibrium would predict modest current account surpluses in the emerging markets if they face...

This paper studies attention allocation behavior of rationally inattentive consumers who have CRRA preferences, face uninsured capital income risk, and suffer from an information-processing capacity constraint. For given attention devoted to capital income risk, we solve for the optimal...

This paper presents an interpretation of post-1953 Colombian economic growth and a discussion on future outcomes. The interpretation takes the form of a data playback guided by the decentralized equilibrium version of the Cass-Koopmans-Ramsey model. The role of technical change as a driver of...

This essay discusses the reasons for and implications of the decline in real interest rates around the world over the past several decades. It suggests that the decline in interest rates is largely explicable from trends in saving, growth, and markups. In this environment, greater government...

We reconsider the well-established paradigm of a rational individual's choice of a consumption schedule, building on the idea that people devote resources to withstand their desire for immediate consumption, thereby becoming more patient. We construct an infinite-horizon model of a small open...

We offer a macroeconomic assessment of China’s Reform Period, highlighting several neglected channels underlining its great expansion. Estimating the supply side of the post-Reform economy reveals the relatively high (above unity) value of the elasticity of factor substitution and the...

This paper investigates why high income households save on average a higher fraction of income than do low income households in US cross-section data. The three explanations considered are (1) age differences across households, (2) temporary earnings shocks and (3) the structure of social...

We use a calibrated life-cycle model to evaluate why high income households save as a group a much higher fraction of income than do low income households in US cross-section data. We find that (1) age and relatively permanent earnings differences across households together with the structure of...

I study the impact of idiosyncratic earnings uncertainty on aggregate saving and employment in an economy populated by families consisting of two members. Families incur a fixed cost of participation when both members are employed. I argue that, because of market incompleteness and private...