There is now considerable evidence that business cycle variation in output and employment in the U.S. differs in expansions and contractions. We present nonparametric evidence that asymmetries are strongest in durable goods manufacturing. In a Markov switching framework, we find two leading...

Central banks adopt an inflation targeting policy with a goal to anchor inflation expectations. We argue that the expectations anchoring test developed in the context of the Krugman (1991) exchange rate targeting model is well-suited for inflation targeting applications. The test quantifies...

We present the results of an experiment designed to identify more clearly the motivation underlying dictators’ behavior. In the typical dictator game, recipients are given no endowment. We give an endowment to the recipient as well as the dictator. This new dimension allows us to test directly...

This paper analyzes market share changes in automobile and light truck submarkets. We find that new product, as measured by restyling, represents the most consistent, dominant determinant of demand. On average a 10% reduction in relative price would yield only one-tenth the market share impact...

Using a laboratory experiment, we investigate whether a variety of behaviors in repeated games are related to an array of individual characteristics that are popular in economics: risk attitude, time preference, trust, trustworthiness, altruism, strategic skills in one-shot matrix games,...

We introduce a novel approach to studying behavior in repeated games - one that is based on the psychology of play. Our approach is based on the following six "aspects" of a player's behavior: round-1 cooperation, lenience, forgiveness, loyalty, leadership, and following. Using a laboratory...

The goal of this paper is to provide a fair empirical comparison of two alternative explanations of the relationship between aggregate price and output. We compare the empirical performance of the sticky price and the Mankiw and Reis (2002) sticky information models. We put both models in a...

The paper examines the processes underlying economic fluctuations by investigating the volatility moderation of U.S. economy in the early 1980's. We decompose the volatility decline using a dynamic factor framework into a common stochastic trend, common transitory component and idiosyncratic...

In this paper, we add to the literature on the assessment of how well data simulated from new-Keynesian dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models reproduce the dynamic features of historical data. In particular, we evaluate sticky price, sticky price with dynamic indexation, and...