How much of a worker's lifetime experience in the labor market is due to human capital accumulation versus luck? We build a life-cycle model of directed search in the labor market, in which workers move between the states of unemployment, employment and across employers because of differences in...

Reverse mortgages allow elderly homeowners with limited income or financial wealth to borrow against their housing wealth without downsizing or selling out and becoming a renter. Although the proportion of elderly homeowners using reverse mortgages has been increasing rapidly, only 1.4 percent...

We study how perfectly anticipated inflation affects allocations and prices in a new-monetarist model with a home-production sector. Inflation taxes market production but not home production, since cash is essential for some market transactions but is not necessary to enjoy home-produced goods....

We study models of credit with limited commitment, which implies endogenous borrowing constraints. We show that there are multiple stationary equilibria, as well as nonstationary equilibria, including some that display deterministic cyclic and chaotic dynamics. There are also stochastic...

We study economies with an essential role for liquid assets in transactions. The model can generate multiple stationary equilibria, across which asset prices, market participation, capitalization, output and welfare are positively related. It can also generate a variety of nonstationary...

We study bilateral exchange, both direct trade, and indirect trade that happens through chains of intermediaries, or middlemen. We develop a model of this activity and present a sequence of applications. We illustrate how, and how many, intermediaries get involved, and how the terms of trade are...