Japan is in the midst of a demographic transition that is both rapid and large by international standards. As recently as 1990, Japan had the youngest population among the Group of 6 large, developed countries. However, the combined effects of aging of the baby boomer generation and low...

Does fiscal policy have qualitatively different effects on the economy in a liquidity trap? We analyze a nonlinear stochastic New Keynesian model and compare the true and loglinearized equilibria. Using the loglinearized equilibrium conditions, the answer to the above question is yes. However,...

Japan is in the midst of a demographic transition that is larger and more rapid than other OECD countries. We are interested in understanding the role of lower fertility rates and aging for the evolution of Japan's national saving rate. We use a computable general equilibrium model to analyze...

This paper uses Japanese data to investigate the relationship between monetary policy and the yield curve. We find that the response of the yield curve depends in an important way on the maintained hypothesis about how monetary policy affects the economy. Under the liquidity effect maintained...

In the past decade Japanese households have been buffeted by some big aggregate shocks. Economic growth has slowed, unemployment risk has risen, and asset prices have fallen to levels not seen since the early 1980's. These shocks have hit both households' financial and human capital. This paper...

This paper uses Japanese data to investigate the relationship between monetary policy and the yield curve. We compare and contrast the role of monetary policy under two perspectives. Under the liquidity effect maintained hypothesis monetary policy is an ineffective tool in altering long-term...

We develop a quantitative costly price adjustment model with capital formation for the Japanese Economy. The model respects the zero interest rate bound and is calibrated to reproduce the nominal and real facts from the 1990s. We use the model to investigate the properties of alternative...

We develop a perfectly competitive endogenous growth model in which R&D is the engine of growth. Our model generates pro-cyclical R&D investment and labor input as a pareto optimal response to technology shocks to the consumption and equipment good sectors. The model also reproduces a variety of...

A cornerstone of monetary policy making is that a looser monetary policy is associated with lower interest rates, higher growth of narrow monetary aggregates, higher output and higher inflation. These responses, which we collectively refer to as the liquidity effect hypothesis, are at odds with...