From 1995 to 2010 Portugal has accumulated a negative international asset position of 110 percent of GDP. In a developed and aging economy the number is astonishing and any argument to consider it sustainable must rely on extremely favorable forecasts on growth. Portuguese policy options are...

The aggregate production function is at the center of contemporaneous macroeconomics. Both growth and business cycle theories offer predictions that depend on the specification of the aggregate technology. In this paper I postulate that the specification of the aggregate technology is endogenous...

We investigate the role of permanent and transitory shocks for firms and aggregate dynamics. We directly model the dynamics of a large panel of firms. We find that permanent shocks to productivity and permanent shifts in the composition of output explain at least 4/5 of firms dynamics. However,...

Following the Great Recession, many European countries implemented fiscal consolidation policies aimed at reducing government debt. Using three independent data sources and three different empirical approaches, we document a strong positive relationship between higher income inequality and...

In a unique dataset that covers virtually all bank loans granted in Portugal, we find that when a firm borrows from one additional bank, the interest rate on bank loans for this firm decreases on average by 14 to 28 basis points. The result holds for small firms but not for larger firms. We test...