Search Results
Working Paper
Goods-Market Frictions and International Trade
We present a tractable framework that embeds goods-market frictions in a general equilibrium dynamic model with heterogeneous exporters and identical importers. These frictions arise because it takes time and expense for exporters and importers to meet. We show that search frictions lead to an endogenous fraction of unmatched exporters, alter the gains from trade, endogenize entry costs, and imply that the competitive equilibrium does not generally result in the socially optimal number of searching firms. Finally, ignoring search frictions results in biased estimates of the effect of tariffs ...
Working Paper
Market-Based Estimates of the Natural Real Rate: Evidence from Latin American Bond Markets
We provide market-based estimates of the natural real rate, that is, the steady-state short-term real interest rate, for Brazil, Chile, and Mexico. Our approach uses a dynamic term structure finance model estimated directly on the prices of individual inflation indexed bonds with adjustments for bond-specific liquidity and real term premia. First, we find that inflation-indexed bond liquidity premia in all three countries are sizable with significant variation. Second, we find large differences in their estimated equilibrium real rates: Brazil’s is large and volatile, Mexico’s is stable ...
Working Paper
The Natural Rate of Interest in the Euro Area: Evidence from Inflation-Indexed Bonds
The so-called equilibrium or natural rate of interest, widely known as r*t, is a key variable used to judge the stance of monetary policy. We offer a novel euro-area estimate based on a dynamic term structure model estimated directly on the prices of bonds with cash flows indexed to the euro-area harmonized index of consumer prices with adjustments for bond-specific risk and real term premia. Despite a recent increase, our estimate indicates that the natural rate in the euro area has fallen about 2 percentage points on net since 2002 and remains negative at the end of our sample. We also ...
Report
Expectations and Information Frictions Within Couples: Evidence from a Sequential Survey of Spouses
This paper combines descriptive and experimental evidence to examine how expectations align and information flows within couples. Using an online survey of 2,200 middle-aged U.S. married couples, we focus on expectations about Social Security benefits. We first document substantial misalignment: the correlation between spouses’ expectations about a given partner’s benefits is 0.70, below full agreement, and varies systematically with couple characteristics, reaching as low as 0.45 for couples with belowmedian earnings. To identify causal information spillovers, we implement a randomized ...