Policy function iteration methods for solving and analyzing dynamic, stochastic general equilibrium models are powerful from both a theoretical and computational perspective. Despite obvious theoretical appeal, significant startup costs and a reliance on a grid-based method have limited the use...

Extreme natural hazards represent, together with crises and wars, the most disruptive phenomena for economic activity. Their economic impact has been shown to be remarkable, long-lasting, and growing over time, though the exact mechanisms at stake are challenging to isolate and quantify. As...

A two country multi-sectoral computable general equilibrium model for New Zealand and Australia is developed and applied to explore issues concerning the effects of the CER-induced tariff reductions and related topics. A comparison with a similar short-run exercise conducted in 1988 records...

This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model with heterogeneous firms that face search complementarities in the formation of vendor contracts. Search complementarities amplify small differences in productivity among firms. Market concentration fosters monopsony power in the labor...

First, we propose a more efficient implementation of the Smolyak method for interpolation, namely, we show how to avoid costly evaluations of repeated basis functions in the conventional Smolyak formula. Second, we extend the Smolyak method to include anisotropic constructions; this allows us to...

We establish 16 good practice principles in modelling defined contribution pension plans. These principles cover the following issues: model specification and calibration; modelling quantifiable uncertainty; modelling member choices; modelling member characteristics, such as occupation and...

We consider a pure exchange economy repeated for an indefinite number of periods from a fixed endowment and posit a learning rule which directs convergence to competitive equilibrium. In each period trade converges to an allocation in the contract set, where agents interpret the current (common)...

We present a simple approach to transform a deterministic numerical model, where several agents simultaneously make decisions, into a stochastic model. This approach, which builds on scenario aggregation, a numerical method developed to solve decision problems under uncertainty, is used to build...

Value function iteration is one of the standard tools for the solution of the Ramsey model. We compare six different ways of value function iteration with regard to speed and precision. We find that value function iteration with cubic spline interpolation between grid points dominates the other...