This paper argues that political polarization plays a key role in shaping the economic expectations and consumption behavior of households. Using a combination of survey and consumption data of U.S. households, we document five facts. First, household beliefs are well-described by a single...

We develop a two-country model in which currency and bond markets are populated by different investor clienteles, and segmentation is partly overcome by global arbitrageurs with limited capital. Our model accounts for the empirically documented violations of Uncovered Interest Parity (UIP) and...

To understand the effects of large-scale asset purchase programs recently implemented by central banks, we study how markets absorb large demand shocks for risk-free debt. Using high-frequency identification, we exploit the structure of the primary market for U.S. Treasuries to isolate demand...

To understand the effects of large-scale asset purchase programs recently implemented by central banks, we study how markets absorb large demand shocks for risk-free debt. Using high-frequency identification, we exploit the structure of the primary market for U.S. Treasuries to isolate demand...

We disentangle the channels through which inflation expectations affect household spending. We conduct a survey featuring hypothetical scenarios that generate a controlled increase in inflation expectations. For 74% of households, current spending is unresponsive, typically due to fixed budget...

This paper studies optimal monetary policy under rational inattention: the policy maker optimally chooses her information subject to a processing constraint. Our analytical results emphasize how the policy maker’s information choices shape her expectations and the dynamics of the macroeconomy....