Can the central bank credibly commit to keeping the nominal interest rate low for an extended period of time in the aftermath of a deep recession? By analyzing credible plans in a sticky-price economy with occasionally binding zero lower bound constraints, I find that the answer is yes if...

Consumer price inflation in Japan has been below zero since the mid-1990s. Given this, it is difficult for firms to raise product prices in response to an increase in marginal costs. One pricing strategy firms have taken in this situation is to reduce the size or the weight of a product while...

This paper presents a three-period model featuring a short-term investor and dealers in an over-the-counter bond market. A short-term investor invests cash in the short term because of a need to pay cash soon. This time constraint lowers the resale price of bonds held by a short-term investor...

In this paper, we empirically investigate how real estate prices are affected by aging. We run regional panel regressions for Japan and the United States. Our regression re- sults show that, both in Japan and the U.S., real estate prices in a region are inversely correlated with the old age...

This paper examines how and to what extent parameter estimates can be biased in a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model that omits the zero lower bound constraint on the nominal interest rate. Our experiments show that most of the parameter estimates in a standard sticky-price DSGE...

In an influential paper, Engel and West (2005) claim that the near random-walk behavior of nom- inal exchange rates is an equilibrium outcome of a variant of present-value models when economic fundamentals follow exogenous first-order integrated processes and the discount factor approaches one....

In this paper, we examine the role of inventory in the price-setting behavior of a distributive firm. Empirically, we show the 5 empirical facts relating to pricing behavior and selling quantity of a certain consumer goods based on daily scanner data to examine the relation between store...

This paper presents a dynamic matching model featuring dealers and short-term investors in an over-the-counter bond market. The model illustrates that bilateral bar- gaining in an over-the-counter market results in an endogenous bond-liquidation cost for short-term investors. This cost makes...

In this paper, we provide compelling evidence that cyclical factors account for the bulk of the post-2007 decline in the U.S. labor force participation rate. We then pro- ceed to formulate a stylized New Keynesian model in which labor force participation is essentially acyclical during "normal...