This paper develops a Markov-Switching vector autoregressive model that allows for imperfect synchronization of cyclical regimes in multiple variables, due to phase shifts of a single common cycle. The model has three key features: (i) the amount of phase shift can be different across regimes...

In a Bayesian analysis, different models can be compared on the basis of theexpected or marginal likelihood they attain. Many methods have been devised to compute themarginal likelihood, but simplicity is not the strongest point of most methods. At the sametime, the precision of methods is often...

We relax the standard assumption in the dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) literature that exogenous processes are governed by AR(1) processes and estimate ARMA (p,q) orders and parameters of exogenous processes. Methodologically, we contribute to the Bayesian DSGE literature by using...

This paper examines the lead/lag relations between size-sorted portfolio returns through the lens of financial cycles governing these returns using a novel econometric methodology. Specifically, we develop a Markov-switching vector autoregressive model that allows for imperfect synchronization...

This paper examines the implications of changing the expectations assumption that is embedded in nearly all current macroeconomic models. The paper substitutes measured or real expectations for rational expectations in an array of standard macroeconomic relationships, as well as in a DSGE model....

In this paper we study the asset pricing implications of a parsimonious two-agent macroeconomic model with two key features: limited participation in the stock market and heterogeneity in the elasticity of intertemporal substitution. The parameter values for the model are taken from the real...

The inability of a wide array of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models to generate fluctuations that resemble actual business cycles has lead to the use of habit formation in consumption. For example, habit formation has been shown to help explain the negative response of labour...

For post-1975 Canadian data, we document the joint behavior of output, the current account, and the interest differential at the business cycle frequency. We also interpret the joint behavior using a simple small open economy model. Our simple model assumes that agents have access to world...

The paper studies the effects of fiscal policy in an integrated world economy. The setup is one with habit-forming endogenous rates of time preference and adjustment costs in investment. Most of the predictions of the model are in line with the recent empirical literature on fiscal policy. For...

Investment booms and asset "bubbles" are often the consequence of heavily leveraged borrowing and speculations of persistent growth in asset demand. We show theoretically that dynamic interactions between elastic credit supply (due to leveraged borrowing) and persistent credit demand (due to...