Heterokaryons derived from polyethylene glycol-mediated fusion of myoblasts at different stages of development were used to investigate the transition of cells in the skeletal muscle lineage from the determined to the differentiated state. Heterokaryons were analyzed by immunofluorescence, using rabbit antibodies against the skeletal muscle isoforms of chicken creatine kinase and myosin, and a ...

We study optimal monetary and fiscal policy at the zero lower bound in a small open economy model with sticky prices and a flexible exchange rate. In such a liquidity trap situation, the economy suffers from a negative output gap, producer price deflation, and an appreciated real exchange rate (compared to its efficient level). The extent of these adverse effects and the duration of the liquidi...

This paper analyzes the welfare costs of business cycles when workers face uninsurable job displacement risk that has a cyclical component. Using a simple general equilibrium model with incomplete markets, this paper shows the following result: for sufficiently high degree of risk aversion (at least one), cyclical variations in the long-term earnings losses of displaced workers can generate arb...

This paper relies on the new Keynesian model with in‡ation persistence to characterize the optimal monetary and …scal policy in a liquidity trap. It shows that, with a Phillips curve that is both forward and backward looking, the monetary policy that is implemented during a liquidity trap episode can lift the economy out of depression. The central bank does not need to commit beyond the end of ...

This paper studies the role of asset-market completeness for the properties of optimal policy. A suitable framework for this purpose is the small open economy with complete international asset markets. For in this environment changes in policy represent country-specific risk diversifiable in world markets. Our main finding is that the fundamental public finance principle whereby when taxes on a...

This paper studies optimal fiscal and monetary policy under sticky product prices. The theoretical framework is a stochastic production economy without capital. The government finances an exogenous stream of purchases by levying distortionary income taxes, printing money, and issuing one-period nominally risk-free bonds. The main findings of the paper are: First, for a miniscule degree of price...

The paper considers a simple model in which monetary and …scal policies are formally independent, but still interdependent through spillovers of macroeconomic outcomes. It shows that the average equilibrium levels of in‡ation, de…cit, debt, and output depend on the two policies’ (i) potency (elasticity of output with respect to the policy instruments); (ii) ambition (the level of their output t...

We formulate an overlapping generations model with skill heterogeneity and productive and non-productive government programs to study the macroeconomic and intergenerational welfare effects caused by risk premium shocks and government debt reductions. We demonstrate that in a small open economy with a high level of debt-to-GDP ratio a small increase in the risk premium leads to substantial outp...

The paper addresses the question of the abolition of the Stability and Growth Pact. More and more authors and policymakers are arising the negative impacts of the European deficit rule on the countries and their ability to respond an asymmetric economic shock. Some others are asking for a redefinition of the Pact. If the focus is only fiscal and in light of the non-respect of the Pact by two of...

This paper identifies optimal interest-rate rules within a rich, dynamic, general equilibrium model that has been shown to account well for observed aggregate dynamics in the postwar United States. We perform policy evaluations based on second-order accurate approximations to conditional and unconditional expected welfare. We require that interest-rate rules be operational, in the sense that th...