Changes in monetary policy are typically implemented gradually, an empirical observation known as interest-rate smoothing. We propose the explanation that time-non-separable preferences may render interest-rate smoothing optimal. We find that when consumers have "catching-up-with-the-Joneses"...

We estimate a search-based real business cycle economy using quantity data and a broad set of wage indicators, allowing the latent wage to follow a non-structural ARMA process. Under the estimated process, wages adjust immediately to most shocks and induce substantial variation in labor's share...

versions of our environment, capital-income subsidies are consistent with zero intertemporal distortions. Our main conclusion is that capital-tax policy can fundamentally be driven by monetary issues.

We re-examine the optimality of tax smoothing from the point of view of frictional labor markets. Our central result is that whether or not this cornerstone optimal fiscal policy prescription carries over to an environment with labor market frictions depends crucially on the cyclical nature of...

quasi-rent view. In the long run, however, the quasi-rent equilibrium is welfare-superior.

We study optimal fiscal policy when product variety is endogenous and products are long-lived assets for firms. Depending on preferences, product creation should be either subsidized or taxed in the long run, by subsidizing or taxing dividends. In the most empirically relevant case, dividends...

A growing body of evidence suggests that ongoing relationships between consumers and firms may be important for understanding price dynamics. We investigate whether the existence of such customer relationships has important consequences for the conduct of both long-run and short-run policy. Our...

We characterize efficient allocations and business cycle fluctuations in a labor-selection model. Due to forward-looking hiring costs and labor supply decisions, efficiency entails both static and intertemporal dimensions. We develop welfare-relevant measures of marginal rates of transformation...

We study optimal fiscal and monetary policy in an environment where explicit frictions give rise to valued money, making money essential in the sense that it expands the set of feasible trades. Our main results are in stark contrast to the prescriptions of earlier flexible-price Ramsey models....

The optimality of tax smoothing is reexamined using frictional labor markets. In a calibrated matching model that generates empirically relevant labor market fluctuations conditional on exogenous fiscal policy, the Ramsey-optimal policy calls for extreme labor tax rate volatility. Purposeful tax...