Can dynamic inefficiency that may occur in societies populated by non altruistic agents be removed by introducing intergenerational altruism ? Although the answer (see Abel, 1987, AER or Weil, 1987, JME) seems to be negative, this paper shows, by means of a simple example, that the presence of...

This paper considers the long-run distribution of capital holdings in a model with complete asset markets and progressive taxation. Households are assumed to be heterogeneous in their labor market productivity. We show that this model is capable of producing a nondegenerate determinate wealth...

This paper investigates the importance of entrepreneurship when quantifying the aggregate and distributional effects of switching from a progressive to a proportional income tax system. I find that the distributional consequences of the tax reform in a model economy with entrepreneurs contrast...

We study the welfare implications of uncertainty in business cycle models. In the modern business cycle literature, multiplicative real shocks to production and/or preferences play an important role as the impulses that produce aggregate fluctuations. Introducing shocks in this way has the...

The bond yield dynamics implied by a welfare-maximizing monetary policy and its credibility are explored in general equilibrium. Credibility is captured by a regime change from discretion to commitment. The policy determines the optimal output and inflation responses to a source of inflation...

This paper studies an urban growth model where learning through personal contacts could be more effective in a denser locale, whereas the effectiveness of learning through impersonal means of communications depends principally on the technology of communications rather than on the locale in...

Many applications in economics use multi-sector versions of the growth model. In this paper, we measure the income shares of capital and labor at the sectoral level for the U.S. economy. We also decompose the capital shares into the income shares of land, structures, and equipment. We find that...

This paper constructs a simple endogenous growth model featuring the product cycle, i.e., the transition from monopoly to perfect competition, and studies its implications for both asset market and business cycle statistics. I find that the product cycle is a powerful amplification mechanism;...

Periods of economic boom with rapid credit and GDP growth can be followed by sudden busts. In the presence of financial markets imperfections, a simple modification of a neoclassical growth model can fully account for this behavior. I study a growth model for a small open economy where...

All industrialized countries have experienced a transition from high birth rates, land-based production and stagnant standards of living to low birth rates and sustained income growth. To develop a better understanding of these economic and demographic transformations and the link between them,...