We develop a model of monetary policy with two key features: (i) the central bank has private information about its long-run target for the policy rate; and (ii) the central bank is averse to bond-market volatility. In this setting, discretionary monetary policy is gradualist, or inertial, in the...

This paper studies optimal fiscal policy in an economy where heterogeneous agents with uncertain lifetimes coexist. We show that some plausible social welfare functions lead to time-inconsistent optimal plans, and we suggest restrictions on social preferences that avoid the problem. The...

This paper addresses the problem of multiple equilibria in a model of time-consistent monetary policy. It suggests that this problem originates in the assumption that agents have rational expectations and proposes several alternative restrictions on expectations that allow the monetary authority...

Self-control devices, such as rehabilitation programs, group commitment, and informal fines, can make time-inconsistent smokers better off. Health economists have used this result to argue in favor of cigarette taxes that restrain smoking. However, taxes alone are not Pareto-improving overall,...

We analyze two monetary economies - a cash-credit good model and a limited participation model. In our models, monetary policy is made by a benevolent policymaker who cannot commit to future policies. We define and analyze Markov equilibrium in these economies. We show that there is no time...

We show that central banks face a time inconsistency problem when publishing bank stress test results. Before a stress test, they want to appear tough as the threat of letting banks fail the stress test incentivizes prudent behaviour. After the stress test, they want to act soft by releasing...

Recent SEC regulations mandate that hedge fund advisers provide narrative disclosures of their business and operations. We find that 40% of these disclosures contain inconsistencies regarding advisers' regulatory histories, conflicts of interest (COIs), and risks. Inconsistencies are associated...

We provide a tractable model of motivational goal bracketing by a present-biased individual, extending previous work to show that the main insights from models with rational goals carry over to a setting with non-rational goals. Goals motivate because they serve as reference points that make...

In this note the method of Hamiltonian dynamics is used to characterize the time-consistent solution to the optimal control problem in a deterministic continuous time rational expectations model. A linear quadratic example based on the work of Miller and Salmon is used for simplicity. To derive...

We prove the well-posedness results, i.e. existence, uniqueness, and stability, of the solutions to a class of nonlocal fully nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations (PDEs), where there is an external time parameter $t$ on top of the temporal and spatial variables $(s,y)$ and thus the...