What shapes the optimal degree of progressivity of the tax and transfer system? On the one hand, a progressive tax system can counteract inequality in initial conditions and substitute for imperfect private insurance against idiosyncratic earnings risk. At the same time, progressivity reduces...

What shapes the optimal degree of progressivity of the tax and transfer system? On the one hand, a progressive tax system can counteract inequality in initial conditions and substitute for imperfect private insurance against idiosyncratic earnings risk. At the same time, progressivity reduces...

In one-good international macro models with nondiversifiable labor income risk, country portfolios are heavily biased toward foreign assets. The fact that the opposite pattern of diversification is observed empirically constitutes the international diversification puzzle. This paper embeds a...

This chapter is structured in three parts. The first part outlines the methodological steps, involving both theoretical and empirical work, for assessing whether an observed allocation of resources across countries is efficient. The second part applies the methodology to the long-run allocation...

In this paper, we study the impact on the aggregate economy of changes in individual risk and insurance. To this end, we use the analytical framework developed in Heathcote, Storesletten and Violante (2008). Our main finding is that insurable risk increases TFP by improving the allocation of...

Not all meetings, however, necessarily lead to transactions. A match occurs if and only if the sale results in a positive surplus; otherwise, the potential buyer and seller continue to search. The continuation flow values that the prospective buyer and seller bring to the table as well as the...

We construct stochastic overlapping-generations general equilibrium models in which households are subject to aggregate shocks that affect both wages and asset prices. We use a calibrated version of the model to quantify how the welfare costs of severe recessions are distributed across different...

This paper is structured in three parts. The first part outlines the methodological steps, involving both theoretical and empirical work, for assessing whether an observed allocation of esources across countries is efficient. The second part applies the methodology to the long-run allocation of...

uninsurable wage risk, insurable wage risk, and measurement error.