Search Results
Working Paper
Maturity, indebtedness, and default risk
In this paper, the authors advance the theory and computation of Eaton-Gersovitz style models of sovereign debt by incorporating long-term debt and proving the existence of an equilibrium price function with the property that the interest rate on debt is increasing in the amount borrowed and implementing a novel method of computing the equilibrium accurately. Using Argentina as a test case, they show that incorporating long-term debt allows the model to match the average external debt-to-output ratio, average spread on external debt, the standard deviation of spreads and simultaneously ...
Working Paper
On the welfare gains of reducing the likelihood of economic crises
The authors seek to measure the potential benefit of reducing the likelihood of economic crises (defined as Depression-style collapses of economic activity). Based on the observed frequency of Depression-like events, they estimate this likelihood to be approximately one in every 83 years for the U.S. The welfare gain of reducing even this small probability of crisis to zero can range between 1.05 percent and 6.59 percent of annual consumption in perpetuity. These large gains occur because although the probability of entering a Depression-like state is small, once the state is entered it is ...
Journal Article
Taxes, homeownership, and the allocation of residential real estate risks
Home equity is the predominant form of savings for most Americans because it helps them save on taxes. However, homeownership also determines how the risks of fluctuations in the value of residential real estate are borne. In this article, Satyajit Chatterjee looks at how the tax benefit of homeownership has moved households toward undiversified investments in risky residential real estate by making it costly for them to rent their homes. He also points out the often overlooked risk-allocation consequences of proposed changes in the U.S. tax code.
Working Paper
Minimum consumptions requirements: theoretical and quantitative implications for growth and distribution
The authors study the impact of a minimum consumption requirement on the rate of economic growth and the evolution of wealth distribution. The requirement introduces a positive dependence between the intertemporal elasticity of substitution and household wealth. This dependence implies a transition phase during which the growth rate of per-capita quantities rise toward their steady-state values and the distributions of wealth, consumption, and permanent income become more unequal. The authors calibrate the minimum consumption requirement to match estimates available for a sample of Indian ...
Working Paper
Money and finance in a model of costly commitment
Journal Article
Agglomeration economies: the spark that ignites a city?
In "Agglomeration Economies: The Spark That Ignites a City?" Satyajit Chatterjee discusses his research, which questions this belief. He finds that while agglomeration economies are important, they're not the most important factor in the spatial concentration of employment. The combined effects of factors unrelated to agglomeration economies, such as the availability of natural resources and local economic policies, appear to account for the bulk of the spatial concentration of U.S. employment.
Working Paper
Maturity, indebtedness, and default risk
In this paper, the authors present a new approach to incorporating long-term debt into equilibrium models of unsecured debt and default. They make three sets of contributions. First, the authors advance the theory of sovereign debt begun in Eaton and Gersovitz (1981) by proving the existence of an equilibrium price function with the property that the interest rate on debt is increasing in the amount borrowed. Second, using Argentina as a test case, they show that unlike a one-period debt model, their model of long-term debt is capable of accounting for the average external debt-to-output ...
Journal Article
Productivity growth and the American business cycle
Working Paper
Entry and exit, product variety and the business cycle
Working Paper
A welfare comparison of pre- and post-WWII business cycles: some implications for the role of postwar macroeconomic policies
The authors compute the potential economic benefits that would accrue to a typical pre-WWII era U.S. worker from the post-WWII macroeconomic policy regime. The authors assume that workers face undiversifiable income risk but can self-insure by saving in nominal assets. The worker's average utility is computed for two eras: pre-WWII (1875-1941) and post-WWII. In the pre-WWII era, the worker endured business cycles that were large in amplitude and quite volatile, a procyclical aggregate price level with large cyclical amplitude, a high average unemployment rate, and virtually no trend in the ...