This paper provides evidence that shifts in the occupational composition of the U.S. workforce are the most important factor explaining the trend decline in the labor share over the past four decades. Estimates suggest that while there is unitary elasticity between equipment capital and...

We estimate a New-Neoclassical Synthesis model of the business cycle with two investment shocks. The first, an investment-specific technology shock, affects the transformation of consumption into investment goods and is identified with the relative price of investment. The second shock affects...

We estimate a New-Neoclassical Synthesis model of the business cycle with two investment shocks. The first, an investment-specific technology shock, affects the transformation of consumption into investment goods and is identified with the relative price of investment. The second shock affects...

We study the effects of financial uncertainty on investment dynamics in the U.S. using a vector autoregression with drifting parameters and stochastic volatilities. We find time-varying negative effects of financial uncertainty shocks on investment. These effects have declined in the post-WWII...

We study the role of heterogeneity in the revenues of individual firms for euro area macroeconomic dynamics. To this end, we specify two models: a standard aggregate vector autoregressive model (VAR) and an "heterogeneous VAR" (HVAR). The VAR model includes only aggregate data, while the HVAR...

This paper examines whether the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index (LEI) can be used for modeling and forecasting a more refined business cycle classification beyond the usual distinction between expansions and contractions. Univariate Markov-switching models for monthly coincident...

Empirical questions such as whether the Phillips curve or the Okun’s law is stable can often be framed as a model comparison—e.g., comparing a vector autoregression (VAR) in which the coefficients in one equation are constant versus one that has time-varying parameters. We develop Bayesian...

This paper demonstrates that the class of conditionally linear and Gaussian state-space models offers a general and convenient framework for simultaneously handling nonlinearity, structural change and outliers in time series. Many popular nonlinear time series models, including threshold, smooth...

Employing an endogenous growth model with human capital, this paper explores how productivity shocks in the goods and human capital producing sectors contribute to explaining aggregate fluctuations in output, consumption, investment and hours. Given the importance of accounting for both the...

In this paper, I build a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model and estimate it using Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) methods. I use the results in order to examine how asset prices and macroeconomic quantities respond to the di erent shocks in the economy. Fluctuations in...