Using a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with financial frictions we study the effects of a rule that incorporates not only the interest rate but also the legal reserve requirements as instruments of the monetary policy. We evaluate the effectiveness of both instruments to accomplish...

This study describes the cigarette demand and the tobacco tax structure in Argentina in order to identify which type of consumption tax can be increased by the government to reduce tobacco use in the short run. Based on the elasticity estimates and the cigarette tax structure, we analyze the...

This paper explores the qualitative and quantitative implications of optimal tax- ation in a developing economy when economic growth is endogenously determined. We di¤erentiate this class of economies from a developed economy in two aspects: 1. the informal sector is quantitatively signi…cant...

In this paper we estimate the yield curve of U.S. government bonds using a Markov switching latent variable model. We show how measures such as the level, slope, and curvature of the yield curve are a¤ected by business cycle conditions. We present a switching latent model which not only seem to...

In this paper we estimate the impact of a conditional transfer program, the Bono de Desarrollo Humano, over several labor market outcomes in Ecuador. We use the BDH’s targeting mechanism and rely on a regression discontinuity (RD) strategy to isolate the causal effects of the program over the...

This paper investigates some finite-sample issues that arise in the analysis of Markovswitching autoregressive models with time-varying probabilities. An extensive simulation study is undertaken to examine the small-sample properties of the maximum likelihood estimator and related statistics,...

Most of the contributions to the optimal tax-enforcement literature assume that audits are perfect and always discover evaders. However, evasion often remains undetected. To reduce the probability of such a failure, governments invest resources to improve their tax administrations’ detection...

We examine the problem of a utilitarian government that sets taxes and fines for evaders but cannot commit to any enforcement policy. Given the tax law, the government and taxpayers —some of whom are honest— play a report-audit game that, depending on taxes, fines and audit costs, generates...

We examine the problem of endogenous entry in a single-unit auction when the seller's welfare depends positively on the utility of a subset of potential bidders. We show that, unless the seller values those bidders' welfare more than her own "private" utility, a nondiscriminatory auction is optimal.

This paper addresses the e¤ects for partial equilibrium models of relaxing one of the critical underlying assumptions of the textbook approach (Dixit and Pyndick, 1994) to investment under uncertainty: either the potential investor has access to a single project or she can consider competing...