One of the most important behavioral parameters in macroeconomics is the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS). Starting with the seminal work of Hall (1978), researchers have used an Euler equation framework to estimate the EIS, relating the growth rate of consumption to the after-tax interest rate facing consumers. This large literature has, however, produced very mixed results, perh...

Recent financial studies often assume agents have Epstein and Zin (1989) preferences, preferences which require agents to care about when uncertainty is resolved. Under this “recursive-preference” framework, the preference for uncertainty resolution is entirely determined by an agent’s preferences for risk and intertemporal substitution. To test the implications of this model, this paper presen...

We provide two ways to reconcile small values of the intertemporal elasticity of substitution (IES) that range between 0.35 and 0.5 with empirical evidence that the IES is large. We do this reconciliation using a model in which all agents have identical preferences and the same access to asset markets. We also conduct an encompassing test, which indicates that specifications of the model with s...

We incorporate a renewable resource into an overlapping generations model with standard, well-behaved utility and constant returns production functions. Besides being a factor of production the resource serves as a store of value. We characterize dynamics, efficiency and stability of steady state equilibria, and show that their nature depends on the size of the intertemporal elasticity of subst...

Abstract This paper estimates the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS), allowing for household-specific portfolio. Previous studies that estimated the EIS used financial indexes as a proxy for the risky return on a representative household portfolio. According to the latest data from the 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances, however, the median US stockholders who own stocks directly hold...

This paper uses a general equilibrium model to study the source and reward of asymmetric volatility or skewness of market returns in an exchange economy. In particular, the dividend growth rate is modeled as a stochastic volatility process and the representative agent is characterized by Epstein-Zin preferences. The equilibrium equity premium, risk-free rate, and asymmetric volatility (measured...

In the instrumental variables (IV) regression model, weak instruments can lead to bias in estimators and size distortion in hypothesis tests. This paper examines how weak instruments affect the identification of the elasticity of intertemporal substitution (EIS) through the linearized Euler equation. Conventional IV methods result in an empirical puzzle that the EIS is significantly less than o...

Under the hypothesis that workers become distracted and spend less time working during COVID-19 pandemic, we analyze, via a model of endogenous growth, relationship between distracting activities home office supply. We find strong theoretical relation intertemporal elasticity substitution spent on labor. also analyze effect labor has marginal productivity effective growth rate production.