Title of dissertation: THE SEMANTICS OF PROPER NAMES AND OTHER BARE NOMINALS Yu Izumi, Doctor of Philosophy, 2012 Dissertation directed by: Professor Paul M Pietroski Department of Philosophy This research proposes a unified approach to the semantics of the so-called bare nominals, which include proper names (e.g., Mary), mass and plural terms (e.g., water, cats), and articleless noun phrases i...

This paper investigates the predictions of a simple optimizing model of nominal price rigidity for the dynamics of inflation. Taking as given the paths of nominal labor compensation and labor productivity to approximate the evolution of marginal costs, I determine the path of prices predicted by the solution of the firms’ optimal pricing problem. Model parameters are chosen to maximize the fit ...

Nominal price rigidities are analyzed from two different perspectives. From a qualitative point of view as Kashyap (1995) we look for coherent signs which confirm the presence of fixed costs of adjustment, and therefore the validity of state-dependent pricing rules. Our data concern a mail order Italian company and confirm that individual prices do not mimic the aggregate price index, as it was...

We study how a gift exchange labor market reacts to the occurrence of negative shocks. One-round shocks may hit either workers’ wages or employers’ earnings (via worker productivity). In our model, other-regarding preferences suffice predict and above competitive level. Wage rigidity is predicted if we add wage illusion loss aversion. Using real-effort laboratory experiment, find support for mo...

S ince 2008, the periphery of Europe has been suffering an economic contraction of a magnitude that in several countries is comparable to the US Great Depression. During the early 2000s, the periphery of Europe enjoyed rapid growth in domestic demand, wages, and employment. Much of this bonanza was fueled by large international capital infl ows. Figure 1 displays the current account, nominal ho...

We investigate the possibility to reflate an economy experiencing a long-lasting zero lower bound episode with subdued or negative inflation by imposing minimum level of wage inflation. The income policy under investigation is formalized as downward nominal growth rigidity, such that cannot be than fraction target. This allows dissolving steady-state equilibrium in Overlapping Generations (OLG)...

Based on US state-level data for the period 1982-2016, two reduced-form versions of New Keynesian wage Phillips curves are examined. These based either sticky nominal wages or real-wage rigidity. The endogeneity unemployment is taken into account by instrumentation and use common correlated effects (CCE) mean group (MG) methods. This first time that this methodology has been applied in context....

A New Keynesian model with government production, public compensation, and unemployment is fit to U.S. data study the effects of wage reductions. Estimation implies reductions in wages goods purchases have similar on total output, fiscal balance, yet former can raise private output slightly, while latter does not. Exogenous decrease wages. Model counterfactuals show that sufficiently rigid nomi...