We consider the cyclical properties of the German economy prior and after reunification in 1990 from the perspective of a real business cycle model. The model provides the framework for the selection and consistent measurement of the variables whose time series properties characterize the cycle....

According to prevailing methodological criteria, standard economics is definitively refuted. Joan Robinson’s wake-up call “Scrap the lot and start again” has therefore lost nothing of its original freshness and urgency. Yet, how can the restart succeed? This inquiry builds on structural...

In this paper we try to elucidate the proper manner to evaluate economic theories and systems within the present financial crisis context. The main lines of argumentation are as follows: appeals to facts cannot settle the liberalism/etatism debate; the deadlock has an important...

The main aim of the paper is to show that credit boom-bust cycles in developing countries might reinforce economic volatility even without market imperfections. We first introduce currency substitution as a factor which becomes intertwined with liquidity preference in the case of a financially...

In this paper the stability of an inflationary process is examined. A dynamic model of the inflation has been developed based on the quantity theory of money. Some theorists say that any rate of inflation other than zero is inherently instable. They say that as people become aware of the fact of...

This paper presents a simple Ramsey-type model example where two infinitely-living agents have same utility function except for time preference, and shows that equilibrium is indeterminate that is to be interpreted as being non-existent. The issues regarding New Keynesian transversality...

We study a model of tax evasion, where a flat-rate tax only finances the provision of public goods. Deciding on reported income, each individual takes into account that the less he reports, the higher is his private consumption but the lower is his moral satisfaction. The latter depends on his...

We propose a nonparametric approach to multiple calibration of numerical general equilibrium models, where counterfactual equilibria are solutions to the Walrasian inequalities. We present efficient approximation schemes for deciding the solvability of Walrasian inequalities

We study an optimal robust monetary policy for a small open economy. The robust control approach assumes that economic agents cannot assign probabilities to a set of plausible models and rather focuses on the worst possible misspecification from a benchmark model. Our findings suggest that,...