Treasury yields spiked during the initial phase of COVID. The 10-year yield increased by 64 bps from March 9 to 18, 2020, leading the Federal Reserve to purchase $1T of Treasuries in 2020Q1. Fed purchases were causal for reducing Treasury yields based on the timing of purchases (which increased...

Starting from a set of facts on the timing of stock returns relative to Federal Reserve decision-making, I argue that informal communication - including unattributed communication -- plays a central role in monetary policy communication. This contrasts with the standard communications framework...

The paper presents empirical evidence based on the US Consumer Expenditure Survey that accounting for limited asset market participation is important for estimating the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS). Differences in estimates of the EIS between assetholders and non-assetholders...

The paper uses micro data on income and asset holdings from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics and other US household level data sets to analyze reasons for nonparticipation in the stock market and for heterogeneity in portfolio choice within the set of stock market participants. I find evidence...