This paper surveys the microfoundations, empirical evidence, and estimation issues underlying the aggregate matching function. There is no consensus yet on microfoundations but one is emerging on estimation. An aggregate, constant returns, Cobb-Douglas matching function with hires as a function of vacancies and unemployment has been successfully estimated for several countries. Recent work has utilized disaggregated data to go beyond aggregate estimates, with many refinements and suggestions for future research. The paper discusses spatial aggregation issues, and implications of on-the-job search and of the timing of stocks and flows for estimated matching functions.

/pdf/looking-into-the-black-box-a-survey-of-the-matching-function-1boerkl7oh.pdf

Looking into the Black Box: A Survey of the Matching Function

https://eml.berkeley.edu/~webfac/gorodnichenko/gertler.pdf

A model of unconventional monetary policy

Part 1 Empirical evidence on money and output: introduction some basic correlations estimating the effect of money on output summary. Part 2 Money in a general equilibrium framework: introduction the Tobin effect money in the utility function summary appendix - the MIU approximation problems. Part 3 Money and transactions: introduction shopping-time models cash-in-advance models other approaches summary appendix - the CIA approximation problems. Part 4 Money and public finance: introduction bugdet accounting equilibrium seigniorage optimal taxation and seigniorage Friedman's rule revisited nonindexed tax systems problems. Part 5 Money and output in the short run: introduction flexible prices sticky prices and wages a framework for monetary analysis inflation persistence summary appendix problems. Part 6 Money and the open economy: introduction the Obstfeld-Rogoff two-country model policy coordination the small open economy summary appendix problems. Part 7 The credit channel of monetary policy: introduction imperfect information in credit markets macroeconomic implications does credit matter? summary. Part 8 Discretionary policy and time inconsistency: introduction inflation under discretionary policy solutions to the inflation bias is the inflation bias important? do central banking institutions matter? lessons and conclusions problems. Part 9 Monetary-policy operating procedures: introduction from instruments to goals the instrument-choice problem operating procedures and policy measures problems. Part 10 Interest rates and monetary policy: introduction interest-rate rule and the price level interest rate policies in general equilibrium models the term structure of interest rates a model for policy analysis summary problems.

Monetary Theory and Policy

Over the last thirty years, a new paradigm in banking theory has overturned economists' traditional vision of the banking sector. The asymmetric information model, extremely powerful in many areas of economic theory, has proven useful in banking theory both for explaining the role of banks in the economy and for pointing out structural weaknesses in the banking sector that may justify government intervention. In the past, banking courses in most doctoral programs in economics, business, or finance focused either on management or monetary issues and their macroeconomic consequences; a microeconomic theory of banking did not exist because the Arrow-Debreu general equilibrium model of complete contingent markets (the standard reference at the time) was unable to explain the role of banks in the economy. This text provides students with a guide to the microeconomic theory of banking that has emerged since then, examining the main issues and offering the necessary tools for understanding how they have been modeled. This second edition covers the recent dramatic developments in academic research on the microeconomics of banking, with a focus on four important topics: the theory of two-sided markets and its implications for the payment card industry; "non-price competition" and its effect on the competition-stability tradeoff and the entry of new banks; the transmission of monetary policy and the effect on the functioning of the credit market of capital requirements for banks; and the theoretical foundations of banking regulation, which have been clarified, although recent developments in risk modeling have not yet led to a significant parallel development of economic modeling. Praise for the first edition:"The book is a major contribution to the literature on the theory of bankingand intermediation. It brings together and synthesizes a broad range ofmaterial in an accessible way. I recommend it to all serious scholars andstudents of the subject. The authors are to be congratulated on a superbachievement." -- Franklin Allen, Nippon Life Professor of Finance and Economics, WhartonSchool, University of Pennsylvania "This book provides the first comprehensive treatment of the microeconomicsof banking. It gives an impressive synthesis of an enormous body ofresearch developed over the last twenty years. It is clearly written and apleasure to read. What I found particularly useful is the great effort thatXavier Freixas and Jean-Charles Rochet have taken to systematicallyintegrate the theory of financial intermediation into classicalmicroeconomics and finance theory. This book is likely to become essentialreading for all graduate students in economics, business, and finance." -- Patrick Bolton, Barbara and David Zalaznick Professor of Business, Columbia University Graduate School of Business "The authors have provided an extremely thorough and up-to-date survey ofmicroeconomic theories of financial intermediation. This work manages to beboth rigorous and pleasant to read. Such a book was long overdue and shouldbe required reading for anybody interested in the economics of banking andfinance." -- Mathias Dewatripont, Professor of Economics, ECARES, Universit

Microeconomics of banking

This paper examines a model of dynamic price adjustment based on the assumption that information disseminates slowly throughout the population. Compared to the commonly used sticky-price model, this sticky-information model displays three, related properties that are more consistent with accepted views about the effects of monetary policy. First, disinflations are always contractionary (although announced disinflations are less contractionary than surprise ones). Second, monetary policy shocks have their maximum impact on inflation with a substantial delay. Third, the change in inflation is positively correlated with the level of economic activity.

/pdf/sticky-information-versus-sticky-prices-a-proposal-to-it706y12ah.pdf

Sticky Information Versus Sticky Prices: A Proposal to Replace the New Keynesian Phillips Curve

This paper develops a dynamic general equilibrium model that attempts to reconcile the observation that aggregate movements of exports and imports are disconnected from real exchange rate movements, while firm-level exports co-move significantly with the real exchange rate. Firms are heterogeneous, facing recurrent aggregate and firm-product specific productivity shocks, choose which goods to export, and decide to enter and exit the business endogenously. We calibrate and estimate the model with both aggregate and firm level data.

/pdf/dynamics-of-firms-and-trade-in-general-equilibrium-28a066k0wv.pdf

Dynamics of Firms and Trade in General Equilibrium

Macroeconomics of monopolistic competition

A long standing issue in macroeconomics is that of the relation of imperfect competition to fluctuations in output. In this paper we examine the relation between monopolistic competition and the role of aggregate demand in the determination of output. We first show that monopolistically competitive economies exhibit an aggregate demand externality. We then show that, because of this externality, small menu costs, that is small costs of changing prices may lead to large effects of aggregate demand on output and on welfare.

Monopolistic Competition, Aggregate Demand Externalities and Real Effects of Nominal Money

This paper is a quantitatively-oriented theoretical study of the interaction between housing prices, aggregate production, and household behavior over a lifetime. We develop a life-cycle model of a production economy in which land and capital are used to build residential and commercial real estates. We find that, in an economy where the share of land in the value of real estates is large, housing prices react more to an exogenous change in expected productivity or the world interest rate, causing a large redistribution between net buyers and net sellers of houses. Changing financing constraints, however, has limited effects on housing prices.

Winners and Losers in House Markets

Japan has seen episodes in which boom and bust in land prices is accompanied by boom and bust in business fixed investment. We develop a model that includes land in the production function. We show that in this model movements in land prices will be associated with movements of the capital stock in the same direction, provided the elasticity of substitution between land and capital is greater than one. We then estimate an aggregate investment function. Consistent with an elasticity greater than one, increases in land prices are associated with increases in the business capital stock even after controlling for movements in output and the cost of capital; decreases have a symmetric effect. In the end, however, we find that movements in land prices explain relatively little of the movement in the business fixed investment. In addition to possibly indicating that the elasticity is very near one, the small effect may result because of difficulty in extracting information from noisy land prices, neglect of the effects of regulations, and failure to consider credit constraints.

/pdf/land-prices-and-business-fixed-investments-in-japan-nw6rt974sg.pdf

Nobuhiro Kiyotaki

Papers

Dynamics of Firms and Trade in General Equilibrium

Macroeconomics of monopolistic competition

Monopolistic Competition, Aggregate Demand Externalities and Real Effects of Nominal Money

Winners and Losers in House Markets

Land Prices and Business Fixed Investments in Japan