Hyman Minsky's research emphasized the central role of finance in modern economies at a time when finance was not important in most mainstream macroeconomic research. But in the 1980s, mainstream research began to explore the role of finance in firm and consumer behavior. This paper examines the...

Most empirical models of investment rely on the assumption that firms are able to respond to prices set in centralized securities markets (through the quot;cost of capitalquot; or quot;qquot;). An alternative approach emphasizes the importance of cash flow as a determinant of investment...

The 2008 U.S. financial upheaval raises important questions about the sources of household consumption and debt growth, along with their macroeconomic effects. We argue that spending and financial preferences evolve as social norms interact with both cultural trends and institutional changes in...

Studies of tax policy and corporate investment have been prominent in public finance and macroeconomic research. By integrating corporate income tax rates, investment tax credits, and the value of depreciation allowances into the quot;cost of capital,quot; economists have analyzed the effects of...

Optimal portfolios differ according to the length of time they are held without being rebalanced. For the case in which asset returns are identically and independently distributed, it has been shown that optimal portfolios become less diversified as the holding period lengthens.We show that the...