We study how firms' expectations respond to prospective tariff shocks using a randomized survey experiment among Swiss manufacturing firms. When confronted with potential U.S. tariffs, respondents expect sizable declines in turnover and investment, yet anticipate increases in ex-tariff export...

Producers can leverage their bargaining power vis-'a-vis consumers by entering bargaining with debt. We discover novel general-equilibrium effects of such strategic debt by developing a money-search framework featuring heterogeneous consumers. Debt distorts trade along two margins: it destroys...

We extend a quantitative general equilibrium model of global trade networks to evaluate the economic impacts of various trade disruptions. Our analysis considers scenarios such as US-China trade wars, a broader Cold War 2.0 decoupling, Trump-era tariffs, and disruptions in the trade of critical...

This paper studies heterogeneous firm responses to a sudden trade-induced profitability shock - the 2015 Swiss franc appreciation. Using firm-level investment data and a novel measure of exposure, we document that this trade shock causes large and persistent investment declines among affected...

This article develops a novel economic sentiment indicator (LLM-ESI) by applying large language models to open-ended responses from Swiss business tendency surveys. Using a BERT-based transformer model, it extracts firmlevel sentiment from free-text survey comments and aggregates it into a...

We develop a novel approach to measuring long-run economic growth by exploiting systematic variation in the use of color in European paintings. Drawing inspiration from the literature on nighttime lights as a proxy for income, we extract hue, saturation, and brightness from millions of pixels to...

This paper presents new evidence on how catalyst policies can overcome coordination and financial frictions, shifting expectations in line with Big Push theory. We examine Prussian interventions during the early expansion of the German railroad network, which guaranteed dividends on selected...

I develop and analyze a monetary model with liquid equity. Equity is a claim on the profits of firms acting as sellers in the search-and-matching market. Buyers in that market devote search to obtain matches with firms, and use the equity to relax a liquidity constraint. The dual nature of...

This paper leverages a novel survey among German senior government officials to investigate fiscal responses to monetary policy shocks. Using randomized vignette treatments, we present officials with scenarios of increased government interest costs and analyze their expected fiscal adjustments....

We introduce banks that issue liquid deposits backed by bonds and capital into an otherwise standard cash-in-advance economy. Liquidity transformation by banks increases aggregate consumption and investment relative to a cash-only economy but can also lead to inefficient overinvestment....