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...

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...

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....

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...

Forecasting at business cycle frequencies is traditionally done with statistically estimated econometric models. This paper takes a different approach, using a calibrated dynamic general equilibrium model in line with the real business cycle literature. First attempts by others have not proven...

This paper examines the role of wage indexation and indexation lags in stabilization programs. We analyze whether the added inflation inertia caused by such lags increases the importance of the heterodox aspects of anti-inflation stabilization programs, which involve the imposition of direct...

We document the real business cycle properties of foreign aid to poor countries. We show that aid exhibits the following empirical regularities over a twenty-five year period. First, it represents a significant source of income for the recipients. Second, it is very volatile - two to three times...

In this paper we present a simple theory-based measure of the variations in aggregate economic efficiency: the gap between the marginal product of labor and the household’s consumption/leisure tradeoff. We show that this indicator corresponds to the inverse of the markup of price over social...

I develop an overlapping-generations framework in which changes in lending standards generate endogenous cycles. In my economy, entrepreneurs who are privately informed about the quality of their projects need to borrow funds. Intermediaries screen entrepreneurs both through the amount of...

This paper considers propagation of aggregate shocks in a dynamic general-equilibrium model with labor-market matching and endogenous job destruction. Cyclical fluctuations in the job-destruction rate magnify the output effects of shocks, as well as making them much more persistent. Interactions...