Many existing theories of financial intermediation have difficulty explaining why financial activity can generate large real effects. This paper argues that the large real effects may reflect a multiplicity of equilibria. The multiple equilibria in this paper are generated by the dynamic...

Poor performance by the financial sector can be costly for society. On the other hand, a healthy banking sector has been thought by some to contribute to the growth of the economy. Recently, though, economists have begun to analyze new elements of the linkages between the financial and real...

This article examines whether price indexes, such as the CPI, the PPI, and the implicit price deflator for GDP (PGDP), tell a consistent story about the general price level and inflation rate. To this end, Zsolt Becsi analyzes the time series properties of these indexes. He finds that the PGDP...

Much of the 1992 presidential campaign focused on which fiscal policies would best promote economic growth. In this article, Zsolt Becsi develops an analytical and graphical framework to evaluate the long- and short-run effects of a variety of taxation and expenditure policies. ; Becsi shows...

We develop a simple analytical framework where the longevity of profit-maximizing firms requires costly resources. We show that a firm's longevity and value are positively related to the firm''s pricing power, cash reserves, honesty, and ratio of equity to debt financing.

This paper constructs a three-country, specific-factor, trade-theoretic model in which two of the countries are in conflict and where war effort is determined endogenously in a Nash equilibrium. The third country does not take part in the war, but trades with the warring countries. In the...

Any number of U.S. politicians owe their success to emphasizing tax cutting. According to logic, voters are opting for fewer government services or for changes in the mix of services rendered. It is at this point that things become complicated, however, because what happens to expenditures...