The presence of a hump shaped lifetime consumption profile is a well known puzzle from the perspective of a lifecycle model with complete markets–why don’t individuals simply smooth consumption over the length of their life? Recent literature that addresses this question [e.g. Carroll (1997)...

We study the effects of on-the-job skill accumulation on average hours worked by age and the volatility of hours over the life cycle in a calibrated general equilibrium model. Two forms of skill accumulation are considered: learning by doing and on-the-job training. In our economy with learning...

We study a calibrated stochastic life cycle model and its implications for changes in the volatility of hours worked over the life cycle. In particular, we contribute to the literature to which Rios-Rull (ReStud, 1996) and Gomme, Rogerson, Rupert and Wright (NBER Macro Annual, 2004) are notable...

Japan has the highest debt to GDP ratio among the developed nations. In addition, the population is projected to age rapidly over the next few decades, which will significantly increase the ratio of government expenditures to GDP. In this paper, we explore the effect of economic growth driven by...

In this paper we study the dynamic behavior of stock returns and volatility in emerging financial markets. In particular, we focus our attention on the following questions: (1) Does stock return volatility in emerging markets change over time? If so, are volatility changes predictable? (2) How...

In this article, we study the welfare effects of unfunded social security in a general equilibrium model populated with overlapping generations of altruistic individuals that differ in lifetime expectancy and earnings ability. Contrary to previous research, our results indicate that steady-state...

This paper studies the quantitative impact of eliminating capital income taxation on capital accumulation and steady-state welfare in a general equilibrium model with overlapping generations of sixty-five-period-lived individuals who face idiosyncratic earnings risk, borrowing constraints, and...

McGrattan and Prescott (2003) argue that the average equity premium is less than one percent when the annual data used in the computation are adjusted in certain ways: equity returns reduced by subtracting diversification costs and taxes on dividend yields, and debt yields are raised by using...