As Posner (1997) has observed, when individuals in a relationship can commit to imposing costs upon each other then efficient behavior in the absence of law is possible. The question is whether efficient norms of behavior evolve endogenously in a population. We show that in a standard hold up...

As recent research has shown one of the most important impediments to a successful conduct of monetary policy arises from the measurement error associated with output and inflation observations and the uncertainty regarding estimates of unobservables such as potential output. (See, for example,...

Using threshold autoregressive specifications, this paper develops new parametric tests for level asymmetries. It proposes bootstrap likelihood ratio statistics to test the symmetric adjustment null against sign and amplitude asymmetries or a combination of both. Monte Carlo simulations show...

This paper investigates optimal monetary policy in an economy, in which the output-inflation trade off faced by the central bank is influenced by two important forces: (i) the presence of uncertain and possibly changing parameters, and (ii) private sector expectations regarding the central...

Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995) developed an estimator for an equilibium model of differentiated products markets using aggregate data, without assuming the existence of a representative agent, or imposing prior restrictions on elasticities. Their estimator though, was computationally...

A stable predictive relationship between inflation and the output gap, often referred to as a Phillips curve, provides the basis for empirical formulations of countercyclical monetary policy in many models. However, evidence for the usefulness of output gap measures for forecasting inflation is...

Online Escrow is emerging as an effective services to secure online trades in C2C Internet auctions. An online escrow service provider acts as a middle man in the exchange of goods and payment to protect tradersÌ benefit from Internet fraud. The ongoing research presented in this paper is to...

This paper studies the formulation of monetary policy in a changing environment when knowledge regarding some aspects of the structure of the economy is imperfect and an adaptive learning technology is available to the policymaker and economic agents. As a benchmark, we develop a simple model of...

A generic property of biological, social and economical networks is their ability to evolve in time, creating or supressing links. We model this situation with an adaptive network of agents playing a Prisoner's Dilemma game. Each agent plays with its local neighbors, collects an aggregate payoff...

The extent of output growth, hence, productivity growth in service industries has been controversial. Although official data indicate productivity growth slowdowns in 1948-60 and 1979- 98, some economists suggest the official figures are inaccurate due to mismeasured output, inputs, or both. The...