Standard business cycle models with state-additive preferences, while broadly consistent with the behavior of real macroeconomic aggregates, are unable to generate asymmetries between expansions and recessions, and are also inconsistent with the behavior of asset prices. In this paper we exploit...

This paper investigates whether technological shocks, constructed to be consistent with the observed cross-country income dispersion, are also capable of accounting for development regularities related to capital accumulation. This question is approached via a quantitative theoretical analysis...

In this paper we provide a thorough characterization of the asset returns implied by a simple general equilibrium production economy with convex investment adjustment costs. When households have EpsteinÐZin preferences, there exist plausible parameter values such that the model generates...

This paper proposes an explanation for why efficient reforms are not carried out when losers have the power to block their implementation, even though compensating them is feasible. We construct a signaling model with two-sided incomplete information in which a government faces the task of...

This paper studies the interdependence between fiscal and monetary policies, and their joint role in the determination of the price level. The government is characterized by a long-run fiscal policy rule whereby a given fraction of the outstanding debt, say d, is backed by the present discounted...

This paper documents and discusses a dramatic change in the cyclical behavior of aggregate hours worked by individuals with a college degree (skilled workers) since the mid-1980's. Using the CPS outgoing rotation data set for the period 1979:1-2003:4, we find that the volatility of aggregate...