We investigate the statistical properties of output growth-rate distributions. Recent empirical contributions indicate that growth rates follow a Laplace distribution at different levels of aggregation, and, following this, we test whether output growth rates can be so approximated. We also ask...

This paper studies optimal tax policy problem by employing an open economy dynamic general equilibrium model with incomplete asset markets. We investigate the possibility of welfare-improving active tax policies (under which tax rates respond to changes in productivity) on factor incomes and...

In this paper we present some contingent claim analysis’ models for the firm value. We focus on two different approaches: the structural (Merton) approach and a new one that treats the asset value as a claim on the firm’s securities. The non-observability of the assets’...

We perform a Monte Carlo experimet to compare four different Value-at-Risk methodologies, RiskMetrics, Gaussian GARCH(1,1), Generalized Student-t APARCH(1,1), and ARCH(1) Quantile, under five different data generating processes. The ARCH(1) Quantile methodology does not assume any distribution...

In this work, I analyze the importance of the disaggregation of asset wealth into its main components (financial and housing wealth). I show, from the consumer's intertemporal budget constraint, that the residuals of the trend relationship among consumption, financial wealth, housing wealth and...

Multi-currency instruments are quite popular in Iceland. This stems from the fact that loans based on the Icelandic Krona have high interest rates. Therefore, corporations and corporate customers often prefer to take loans in foreign currencies. In order to minimize the currency risk it is...

The assessment of models of financial market behaviour requires evaluation tools. When complexity hinders a direct estimation approach, e.g., for agent based microsimulation models or multifractal models, simulation based estimators might provide an alternative. In order to apply such...

This paper uses an unobserved component model to examine the relative importance of the structural and the persistence approach to unemployment. We derive the NAIRU from a standard imperfect competition model. The price- and wage-setting schedules include a measure for unemployment persistence....

This paper highlights the analysis of the term structure of interest rate within a full DSGE model. Our goal consists in setting up a full model including the feed-back from the economy to the term structure and vice-versa. Contrary to existing models of the term structure (TS, henceforth) (for...

This paper studies the behaviour of firm entry and exit in response to macroeconomic shocks. We formulate a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with an endogenous number of producers. From the calibrated model, we derive a minimum set of robust sign restrictions to identify four kinds...