We provide a model of rational bubbles in a DNK framework. Entrepreneurs are heterogeneous in investment efficiency and face credit constraints. They can trade bubble assets to raise their net worth. The bubble assets command a liquidity premium and can have a positive value. Monetary policy affects the conditions for the existence of a bubble, its steady-state size, and its dynamics including ...

This study by adopting rolling regression techniques investigate whether bank and life insurance equity returns sensitivity to long term unanticipated interest rate changes has been changed since the Bank of England was granted operational independence in May 1997. Our results indicate that there may well have been changes in the way banks and life insurance companies manage interest rate risk....

We develop a model in which the capital of the intermediary sector plays a critical role in determining asset prices. The model is cast within a dynamic general equilibrium economy, and the role for intermediation is derived endogenously based on optimal contracting considerations. Low intermediary capital reduces the risk-bearing capacity of the marginal investor. We show how this force helps ...

Premiums on U.S. sovereign CDS have risen to persistently elevated levels since the financial crisis. We ask whether these premiums reflect the probability of a fiscal default – a state in which budget balance can no longer be restored by raising taxes or eroding the real value of debt by raising inflation. We develop an equilibrium macrofinance model in which the fiscal and monetary policy sta...

I describe two amplifications mechanisms that operate during liquidity crises and discuss the scope for central bank policies during crises as well as preventive policies in advance of crises. The first mechanism works through asset prices and balance sheets. A negative shock to the balance sheets of asset-holders causes them to liquidate assets, lowering prices, further deteriorating balance s...

This paper studies the equity premium implications of a canonical New Keynesian model with investment. We find that the presence of a time-varying marginal cost dampens the expansionary impact of a positive technology shock. With a given fraction of firms standing ready to satisfy demand at predetermined prices, the variations in the marginal utility of consumption attributed to technology shoc...

The successful pursuit of the objective of low inflation by central banks in recent decades has also delivered low variability of both inflation and output. At the same time, numerous financial and other "imbalances" (defined here as significant and sustained deviations from historical norms) have emerged. Should these imbalances revert to the mean, there could be significant effects on output ...

Is market-based or bank-based financial system better for fostering technological innovation as an engine of growth? I present evidence that bank-based systems promote rapid technological progress in those industrial sectors that depend heavily on external finance for funding innovation by facilitating credit access to younger firms. On the other hand, I also find evidence of a general positive...

Tax rates have fluctuated considerably since federal income taxes were introduced in the U.S. in 1913. This paper analyzes the effects of stochastic taxation on asset prices in a dynamic general equilibrium model. Stochastic taxation affects the after-tax returns of both risky and safe assets. Whenever taxes change, bond and equity prices adjust to clear the asset markets. These price adjustmen...

This paper investigates whether investors are compensated for the tax burden of equity securities. Effective tax rates on equity securities vary over time due to frequent tax reforms and cross-sectionally due to persistent differences in propensities to pay dividends. The paper finds an economically and statistically significant relationship between risk-adjusted stock returns and effective per...