Following a suggestion by Gasperini and Veneziano, that String Cosmology can be reconciled with Inflation and, hence, with the Standard Big Bang, we display an analytical solution which possesses four interesting properties: (1) it is non-singular; (2) it distinguishes the dynamics of the external scale factor, a(t), from that of the internal one, b(t); (3) it exhibits a non-monotonic behavior ...

We demonstrate the existence of chaos in realistic models of two-field inflation. The chaotic motion takes place after the end of inflation, when the fields are free to oscillate and their motion is only lightly damped by the expansion of the universe. We then investigate whether the presence of chaos affects the predictions of two-field models, and show that chaos enhances the production of to...

The paper shows that Liquidity Deflation, a liquidity-drainage mechanism associated with Safe Asset Shortage, helps to rationalize supply-side liquidity trap and involuntary unemployment under wage/price flexibility, especially in economies that suffered massive liquidity destruction, like advanced economies in the wake of the Lehman crisis. Moreover, Liquidity Deflation is shown to imply defla...

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Using over 100 years of U.S. data, we find that the long-run effects of inflation on consumption, investment, and output are positive. Thus, models generating long-term negative effects of inflation on output and consumption (including endogenous growth and RBC models with...

Emerging market countries increasingly issue nominal government debt. At the same time, these countries experience sovereign debt crises with default and high inflation. This paper studies the implications of debt denomination for sovereign default and inflation policies. Using bond-level data on government borrowing, I show that default and inflation rates vary systematically with debt denomin...

The Fed kept interest rates low and essentially unchanged during the late 1990s despite a booming economy and record-low unemployment. These interest rates were accommodative by historical standards. Nonetheless, inflation remained low. How did the Fed succeed in sustaining rapid economic growth without fueling inflation and inflationary expectations? In retrospect, it is evident that the produ...

On 8 October 1992, three weeks after sterling’s departure from the Exchange Rate Mechanism of the European Monetary System, Norman Lamont, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, established a new framework for monetary policy based on a range of 1%–4% for annual RPIX inflation.(1) In 1997 this framework was further developed with the Bank of England being given operational independence and a symmetr...

This paper analyses two reasons why inflation may interfere with price adjustment so as to create inefficiencies in resource allocation at low rates of inflation. The first argument is that the higher the rate of inflation the lower the likelihood that downward nominal rigidities are binding (the Tobin argument) which implies a non-linear Phillips-curve. The second argument is that low inflatio...

This paper investigates core inflation defined as the best predictor of inflation. I compare forecasts obtained using the mean, weighted median, trimmed mean, and less food and energy inflation rates for the consumer price index and the personal consumption expenditure deflator for the current U.S. monetary policy regime. Another issue addressed is that of the systematic bias that exists due to...

Inflation determination is studied in a model in which policy makers care about inflation and the difference between actual and desired output as in Kydland and Prescott (1977) and Barro and Gordon (1983). We extend the analysis by assuming that desired output depends on the realisation of the supply shock, and show that this influences average inflation. Furthermore, we demonstrate that inflat...