We studied the cyclical and growth properties of Brazilian per capita output from 1850 to 2000. Contrary to the experience of some developed countries, we did not find large changes in the volatility of per capita output. However, we obtained evidence that the oscillations in economic activity...

If the central bank attempts to minimize a welfare loss function in a small-open economy model with nominal wage and price rigidities, it has been argued that a monetary policy rule that responds to consumer price index (CPI) inflation performs better than rules that react to competing inflation...

We quantitatively compare three macroeconomic policies in a cash-credit goods framework. The policies are: the optimal one; another one that fully smoothes out oscillations in output; and a simple one that prescribes constant values for tax and monetary growth rates. As often found in the related...

This paper investigates the role of the RBC (Real Business Cycle) model with investment-specific technology shocks in explaining business cycle fluctuations in Brazil. I consider the role of transitory and permanent components of neutral and investment-specific technology shocks. I fit the model...

This paper studies how the central bank's concerns about model uncertainty affect the design of monetary policy in the presence of wealth effects. If all exogenous disturbances are white noises, increasing the preference for robustness or the size of wealth effects implies more aggressive policy...

We estimate small open economy models in which inflation targeting central banks respond to a discounted infinite sum of expected inflation and output gaps (Calvo-type rules). The results support Calvo-type rules for Australia and Canada, and suggest longer targeting horizons for inflation...