This paper examines the relevance of financial market characteristics for explaining the catching-up process in Europe and Asia. Global financial integration has been associated with divergent patterns of real convergence and the current account in emerging markets. While countries in emerging...

We propose a simple saving-based measure of the cyclical component in GDP. The measure is motivated by the prediction that the representative consumer changes savings in response to temporary deviations of income from its stochastic trend, while satisfying a present-value budget constraint. To...

We build a general equilibrium model of overlapping generations that incorporates endogenous saving, labor force participation, work hours, and Social Security benefit claims. Using this model, we study the impact of three Social Security reforms: 1) a reduction in benefits and payroll taxes; 2)...

The creeping stock market collapse eroded the wealth of funded pension systems. This led to political tensions between generations due to the fuzzy definition of property rights on the pension funds wealth. We argue that this problem can best be resolved by the introduction of generational...

This paper contends that National Income Accounts (NIA) saving rates have been sending out misleading signals about the U.S. economy in the 1980s. The individuals' saving rate from the flow-of-funds accounts (FFA) is shown to be a much better indicator of resources available for future economic...

Although the role of financial constraints on entrepreneurial choices has received considerable attention, the effects of these constraints on aggregate capital accumulation and wealth inequality are less known. Entrepreneurship is an important determinant of capital accumulation and wealth...

An examination of how intergenerational altruism and borrowing constraints shape the interest rate, savings, and welfare response to funded and unfunded Social Security programs.

An analysis of the interest rate and savings effects of fiscal policy in an overlapping generations framework, discussing the circumstances under which capital's steady-state marginal product varies.