We present the optimal consumption and investment strategy for an investor, endowed with labor income, searching to maximize utility from consumption and terminal wealth when facing a binding capital constraint of a European (constraint on terminal wealth) or an American (constraint on the...

This short note is aimed to open discussion. Asset pricing models assume capital markets are competitive, but then my questions were: Why would a diversified investor be willing to accept a supposedly lower equilibrium risk adjusted rate of return in emerging markets (like Argentina), that the...

This thesis consists of three self-contained chapters in empirical macroeconomics and analyzes important issues related to monetary policy and labor supply. The first chapter deals with the problem of weak identification in the estimation of inflation dynamics and a monetary policy rule. We...

Economic theory rarely provides a parametric specification for a model, but it often provides shape restrictions. We consider nonparametric estimation of the heterogeneous demand for gasoline in the U.S. subject to the Slutsky inequality restriction of consumer choice theory. We derive...

This thesis looks at two topics that have been prominent on the development agenda for more than five decades: migration and informal markets. To mitigate the problems of both migration and the informal sector, and harness their development potential, a clear understanding of the mechanisms at...

This paper presents a formal model in which differential satiation dynamics of various consumer needs translate into long-run changes of consumer behavior when income rises. In the model individuals allocate their income to the consumption categories proportional to need deprivation states...

There is a conflict in the mechanism for price determination used in a Marshallian partial equilibrium supply and demand framework and the Walrasian general equilibrium framework. It is generally thought that partial equilibrium is a simplified approximation to the complexities of the general...

Engel's law is known to be extraordinarily consistent across time and space. Accordingly, it has been widely used to determine poverty. However, also among the poorest, a certain amount of non food spending is necessary. To substantiate the distinction between necessities and luxuries, already...