Business cycle statistics differ widely across countries, especially for trade-related variables. Part of these variations relates to the size of the economies and to their distance from each other. This paper asks whether a three-country model is able to display the marked diversity of business...

This paper gauges the strenght of precautionary saving motives by estimating the coefficient of prudence from the U.K. Family Expenditure Survey data set (a time series of cross-sections). Most instrumental variables estimates reveal that larger uncertainty leads to smaller current saving, and...

We analyse the modifications that occur in indirect inference when a nuisance parameter is not identified under the null hypothesis. We develop a testing procedure adapted to this simulation based estimation method, and detail its use for detecting the threshold effect in threshold moving...

In this paper, we test whether labor-hoarding environments with basic and augmented laws of motion provide an adequate explanation for observed business cycle dynamics. The basic law of motion assumes that the information set used by economic agents to forecast future forcing variables includes...

In this paper, we deal with female labour supply in the collective framework (Chiappori, Journal of Political Economy (1992)). We study married couples and start from the empirical observation that the husband's labour supply is generally determined by exogenous constraints. We then show that,...

This paper analyzes the cost and incentive properties of the standard of proof for a finding of negligence. In common law, the usual standard is for courts to decide on the basis of a so-called balance of probabilities or preponderance of the evidence. We show that, if producing information...

Economic fluctuations are much stronger in developing countries than in the United States. Yet, while a large literature debates what constitutes a reasonable estimate of the welfare cost of business cycles in the US, it remains an open question how large that cost is in developing countries....

This paper examines the efficiency of the Canadian treasury bill market as measured by the performance of the expectations model of the term structure of interest rates. In particular, market efficiency is shown to depend upon certain institutional features of the treasury bill auction process....

Dans cet article, nous présentons un survol de la littérature macroéconomique sur la taxation optimale. En premier lieu, nous présentons un modèle très simple à agent représentatif afin de démontrer le résultat principal de cette littérature concernant le taux de taxation sur le...

This study draws on a panel of Southeast Montreal workers to shed light on the intensity of job search effort among the long-term unemployed. Three specific questions are addresses: 1) how long exactly does it takes them to quit searching, 2) how does their job search intensity evolve over time...