We examine the effects of two types of informational frictions, robustness (RB) and finite information-processing capacity (called rational inattention or RI) on the current account, in an otherwise standard intertemporal current account (ICA) model. We show that the interaction of RB and RI has...

Campbell and Cochrane (1999) formulate a model that successfully explains a wide variety of asset pricing puzzles, by augmenting the standard power utility function with a time-varying subsistence level, or "external habit", that adapts nonlinearly to current and past average consumption in the...

Transitional dynamics in growth models have been subject to much attention recently. With a few exceptions, existing studies rely on computational techniques. This paper uses a set of examples to illustrate that qualitative insights on the transitional dynamics can be gained at the expense of...

This paper studies the effect of combining different insurance schemes on the efficiency of consumption smoothing in an environment without commitment. A savings account is introduced into the self-enforcing risk-sharing model of Thomas and Worrall (1988). The risk averse agent's savings play...

This paper evaluates approximation methods to make manageable the numerical solution of overlapping generation models with aggregate risk. The paper starts with a model in which households maximize expected utility over their life cycle. Instantaneous utility is characterized by constant...

Contrary to the usual presumption that welfare is maximized if consumers behave rationally, we show in a two-period overlapping generations model that there always exists a rule of thumb that can weakly improve upon the lifecycle/permanent-income rule in general equilibrium with irrational...

In this note, we consider in discrete time the Ramsey growth model without discounting under stochastic uncertainty modelled by Markov processes. To make the model computationally tractable we shall consider finite state approximations of the original model. Properties of policies maximizing...

Contrary to the usual presumption that welfare is maximized if consumers behave rationally, we show in a two-period overlapping generations model that there always exists a rule of thumb that can weakly improve upon the lifecycle/permanent-income rule in general equilibrium with irrational...

This paper shows that the value function describing efficient risk sharing with limited commitment is not necessarily differentiable everywhere. We link differentiability of the value function to history dependence of efficient allocations and provide sufficient conditions for both properties.