I provide a microfounded theory for one of the oldest, but so far informal, explanations price rigidity: kinked-demand curve theory. Kinked-demand curves arise when some customers observe at no cost only store they are at. At microlevel, predicts that prices should be more likely to change if have recently changed, and flexible in markets where can easily compare prices. macrolevel, it captures...

T his paper examines the effect of factors on the development of commercial banking in Iraq. Seven factors used as determinates for financial depth which are per capita GDP, inflation rate, government budget deficit, share of state-owned banks of total assets as proxy of financial repression, oil sector domination, international trade openness and political stability as explanatory v...

Krugman (1979) brought the study of varieties into sharp focus by presenting a simple generalequilibrium model in which countries gain from trade through the import of new varieties. Since then, economists have been hampered in their ability to quantify the impact of new varieties on national welfare by the econometric and data hurdles that need to be surmounted. In this paper, we document some...

a r t i c l e i n f o This paper studies the monetary policy trade-off between low inflation and low sovereign risk in the environment where fiscal authorities fail to fully ensure the sustainability of government debt. Building on the Fiscal Theory of Price Level (FTPL) and the Fiscal Theory of Sovereign Risk (FTSR), this paper differs in its baseline assumption about the monetary policy objec...

We study the low frequency comovements in unemployment, inflation and the federal funds rate in the U.S. From 1970 through 1979 all three series trended up together; after 1979 they all trended down. The conventional explanation for the buildup of inflation in the 1970s is that the Fed reacted to an increase in the natural rate of unemployment by conducting an overly passive monetary policy. We...

Foreign direct investment (FDI) and trade are often seen as important catalysts for economic growth in the developing countries. FDI is an important vehicle of technology transfer from developed countries to developing countries. FDI also stimulates domestic investment and facilitates improvements in human capital and institutions in the host countries. International trade is also known to be a...

This paper presents a small macroeconometric model examining the determinants of Indian trade and inflation to address the effects of a reform policy package similar to those implemented in 1991. This is different from previous studies along one important dimension that we explicitly incorporate the non-stationarity of the data into our model and estimation procedures, which suggest that the st...