iran’s economy has experienced an average inflation rate of 18.77 percent during the period of 1979-2010. many economists believe that the budget deficits are one of the main determinants of the chronic and relatively high inflation. this paper investigates the relationship between budget deficits and inflation. dynamics of iran’s monetary sector, based on the three cointegration relations i.e....

In repeated games with di®erential information on one side, the labelling \general case" refers to games in which the action of the informed player is not known to the uninformed, who can only observe a signal which is the random outcome of his and his opponent's action. Here we consider the problem of minimizing regret (in the sense ̄rst formulated by Hannan [8]) when the information available...

We show that the regulation of bank lending practices is necessary for the optimal provision of private liquidity. In an environment in which bankers cannot commit to repay their creditors, we show that neither an unregulated banking system nor narrow banking can provide the socially e¢ cient amount of liquidity. If the bankers provided such an amount, then they would prefer to default on their...

We examine whether equity volatility can explain the difference in syndicated corporate loan spreads paid by U.S. and European borrowers first documented by Carey and Nini (2007). We argue that OLS estimates of the association between equity volatility and loan spreads are biased and inconsistent. We suggest instrumental variables that potentially identify consistent estimates. Our instrumental...

Search models of monetary exchange commonly assume that terms of trade in decentralized markets are determined via Nash bargaining. Bargaining frictions add to the classical intertemporal distortion present in most monetary models, whereby agents work today to obtain cash that can be used only in future transactions. More important, bargaining frictions may cause underproduction in decentralize...

While the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates plays an important role in economics and finance, it has received relatively little empirical support. The most frequently used test, which I call the conventional test, has provided some hope for the expectations theory. When the conventional test is used, the slope of the yield curve predicts the correct direction of long-t...

We develop a two-sector search-matching model of the labor market with imperfect mobility of workers, augmented to incorporate a housing market and a frictional goods market. Homeowners use home equity as collateral to …nance idiosyncratic consumption opportunities. A …nancial innovation that raises the acceptability of homes as collateral raises house prices and reduces unemployment. It also t...

When nominal interest rates are at the zero bound, so that monetary policy cannot be used to provide appropriate stymulus, tax policy can accomplish that at zero cost. There is no need to use ine¢ cient policies, such as wasteful public spending. This means that the zero bound on nominal interest rates is not a relevant constraint on both …scal and monetary policy. Key words : Zero Bound; Fisca...

In recent years, central banks have increasingly turned to “forward guidance” as a central tool of monetary policy, especially as interest rates around the world have hit the zero lower bound. Standard monetary models imply that far future forward guidance is extremely powerful: promises about far future interest rates have huge effects on current economic outcomes, and these effects grow with ...