We confront a variety of medium-scale regime-switching DSGE models against U.S. macroeconomic time series data. Our goal is to employ a uni ed Bayesian framework for these models to test empirical evidence of regime changes in the Federal Reserve's in ation target in the post-war period when heteroscedastic shock disturbances are properly taken into account.

This paper uses a micro-founded DSGE model to compare second-best optimal environmental policy and the resulting allocation to first-best allocation. The focus is on the source and size of uncertainty, and how this affects optimal choices and the inferiority of second best vis-à-vis first best.

This thesis is concerned with three questions: first, how can the effects macroeconomic policy has on the economy in general be estimated? Second, what are the effects of a pre-announced increase in government expenditures? Third, how should monetary policy be conducted, if the policymaker faces uncertainty about the economic environment. In the first chapter I suggest to estimate the effects o...

We study the relation between macroeconomic fundamentals and asset pricing through the lens of a state of the art dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) model considered in Christiano, Trabandt and Walentin (2011). We provide a full-information Bayesian estimation of the model using macro variables and extract three fundamental shocks to the economy through the model: neutral technology ...

Central questions raised by recent experience are “why do housing prices fluctuate?” and “what should central banks do about it?” For member states of a currency union, such as Spain or Texas, independent monetary policy cannot be conducted, so that it is important to inquire whether fluctuating housing prices make currency union participation undesirable. In this timely paper, Oriol Aspachs-Br...