This paper shows how expectations-driven contagion of currency crises can arise even if the currency market has a unique equilibrium when viewed in isolation. The model of Morris and Shin (1998) is extended to allow speculators to trade in a second currency market. If speculators believe that a...

We use Mexican firm-level data to study the role of currency mismatches in exacerbating the negative effects of a devaluation in the corporate sector and to investigate what drives Mexican firms to borrow in foreign currency. Our results show that large firms and exporters tend to borrow more...

We formalize the concept of media slant as a relative emphasis on different issues of political interest by the media, and we illustrate the effects of the media choice of slant on political outcomes and economic decisions in a rational expectations model. In a two-candidate election, if the...

This paper investigates the stability of monetary exchange equilibria and the conditions necessary for an equilibrium of this type to emerge endogenously. Previous research on money as a medium of exchange has depended on either initial conditions or steady state conditions to pinpoint...

Economists have devoted substantial effort to understanding why some productive activities are organized under the same firm, with the majority of empirical studies focusing on product or capital markets. Using a unique data set that links occupational data from separate establishments to the...

Regulators often face the challenge of designing and implementing rules that both, respond to the policy objectives and that can be clearly referred to the day-to-day operations and practices in the marketplace. In many cases, the actual codes end up being a cumbersome collection of conditions...

This article studies dynamics in a model where agents forecast a one dimensional state variable via ordinary least squares regressions on the lagged values of the state variable. We study the stability properties of alternative transformations of the state variable that the agent can...

In a very influential paper, Shachar and Nalebuff (1999) develop and estimate structurally a pivotal-leader model of political participation, focusing on the first-order condition of the problem solved by the leaders of two political parties. This note (1) shows that the problem of the party...

There has been increasing concern that the difficulty of obtaining firm operation licences in developing countries may decrease firm creation and increase informality. We estimate the effect on new firm creation/registration of a program that speeds up firm registration procedures and makes them...

In the mid 1980s, Mexico undertook major trade reform, privatization and deregulation. This coincided with a rapid expansion in wages and employment that led to a rise in wage dispersion. This paper examines the role of industry and occupation-specific effects in explaining the growing...