We present a new framework for the joint estimation of the default-free term structure of interest rates and corporate credit spread curves. It specifies the discount curve of a specific credit rating class as the sum of the government discount function and a discount spread function. Both...

This paper analyzes the empirical interdependencies among asset returns, real activity and inflation from a multi-country and international point of view. We find that nominal stock returns are significantly related to inflation only in the U.S, that the U.S. term structure of interest rates...

The Mortensen and Pissarides (1994) matching model with all wages negotiated each period is shown inconsistent with macroeconomic wage dynamics in the US. This applies even when heterogeneous match productivities, time to build vacancies and credible bargaining are incorporated. Wage rigidity...