We use wavelet analysis to investigate to what extent individual U.S. states' business cycles are synchronized. The results show that the U.S. states are remarkably well synchronized compared to the previous findings w.r.t. the Euro Area. There is also a strong and significant correlation...

Following the Great Recession, many European countries implemented fiscal consolidation policies aimed at reducing government debt. Using three independent data sources and three different empirical approaches, we document a strong positive relationship between higher income inequality and...

Since its introduction by Chari et al. (2018), Business Cycle Accounting (BCA) exercises have become widespread. Much attention has been devoted to the results of such exercises and to methodological departures from the baseline methodology. Little attention has been paid to identification...

Since 1980 the U.S. economy has experienced a large increase in income inequality. To explain this phenomenon we develop a life-cycle, overlapping generations model with uninsurable labor market risk, a detailed tax system and investment-specific technological change (ISTC). We calibrate our...

Since 1980 there has been a steady increase in earnings inequality alongside rapid technological growth in the U.S. economy. To what extent does technological change explain the observed increase in earnings dispersion? How does it affect the optimal progressivity of the tax system? To answer...

What is behind the economic depression Brazil experienced between 2014 and 2016? A synthetic control estimation corroborates the hypothesis of a mainly domestic episode. With that in mind, we apply the business cycle accounting method and find that the episode was driven by the efficiency wedge....

Economic crises are usually transmitted across countries via either price or quantity shocks on the balance of payments. This paper complements the literature on international trade and business cycles by analyzing the role of imported intermediates goods inputs during the Great Financial Crisis...

What is behind the economic depression Brazil experienced within 2014-2016? Using a synthetic control estimations we find that its roots are domestic. With that in mind, we apply the business cycle accounting method and find that the episode was driven by the efficiency wedge. The econometric...

The traditional approach towards analyzing the impact of public investment has been through including public capital as a third input factor in a Solow-model production function. Nonetheless, such approach implies several problems both at the theoretical and empirical level. Given such problems,...

Why is good good and bad bad? Kant's categorical imperative (KCI) and instrumental rationality are analyzed under the game-theoretical framework of the folk theorem. Prescribing different courses of action under the one-shot game, Kant's categorical imperative emerges as instrumentally rational...