Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2007. / (UMI)AAI3278900. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-08, Section: A, page: 3509. Adviser: Bruce E. Hansen.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Economics, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 12, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4798. Adviser: Michael Kaganovich.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Economics, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 14, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4803. Advisers: Edward F. Buffie; Eric M. Leeper.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Indiana University, Dept. of Economics, 2009. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Jul 15, 2010). Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 70-12, Section: A, page: 4790. Adviser: Roy J. Gardner.

Thesis (M.A.)--Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1999. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 37-03, page: 0787. Adviser: Roger Koppl.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2006. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 67-11, Section: A, page: 4289. Adviser: Roger Koenker. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 134-138) Available on microfilm from Pro Quest Information and Learning.

These essays attempt to explain why debt contracts are so common, and to explore the consequences resulting from the use of debt contracts. In the first essay, “Moral Hazard and the Optimality of Debt,” I use tools from information theory to study a novel form of moral hazard, and show that debt contracts are the optimal security design in this setting. In the second essay, “Generalized Rational Inattention,” written with Michael Woodford, we develop a generalized version of rational inattention, based on an axiomatic characterization, using the same theorems employed in the first essay. In the third essay, “The Costs of Sovereign Default: Evidence from Argentina,” written with Jesse Schreger, we estimate the costs that Argentina’s 2014 sovereign default imposed on Argentine firms. / Business Economics

Abstract not available.

This doctoral thesis assesses the impacts of the price policy that aims to set a price for carbon in Canada and analyzes the effects of an emissions cap on the welfare of the current and future generations and energy input substitution. In Essay One, a four-stage game is modeled to formulate the price policy and study its impacts. The main result is that through lobbying activities, the dirty-good sector induces the government to implement a price policy of a carbon that is lower than the expected price of carbon. The consequence of the policy is a transfer of income from the owners of the specific factor used in the production of the clean good and workers to the owners of specific factor used in the production of the dirty good. In Essay Two, an overlapping-generations model is developed to study the impacts of the climate-change policy on the welfare of the current and future generations, the dynamic path of energy and permit prices, and resource substitution. The analysis shows that intergenerational equity issue arises when the oil input is large and when polluters are free to discharge greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. On the equity ground, this result justifies government intervention. The analysis also shows that the use of renewable energy can be introduced quickly if the government implements a stringent policy on climate change. In addition, the process of resource substitution---renewable energy for fossil fuels---is a gradual process and takes place in three stages. The economy will be completely sustained by renewable energy after the stock of fossil fuels is depleted. The one-country model of Essay Two is extended into a two-country world, which is also subjected to a climate-change policy under the form of a global cap on greenhouse gases emissions. It is assumed that the emissions permits are allocated to each country according to its population and that the population of the South is higher than that of the North. The analysis shows that the North will import emissions permits and export the consumption good to pay for these permits.

The dissertation discusses the possibility of a reconciliation between neo-Kaleckian and classical (neo-Marxian/Sraffian) two-sector growth models, and it explores the issues relative to the long-run convergence of actual degrees of capacity utilization towards their normal values. In a simplified analytical framework, that examines regimes incorporating neo-Kaleckian and neo-Marxian/Sraffian perspectives, the thesis shows that the paradox of thrift and the paradox of costs hold both in the short run and in the long run. A more sophisticated two-sector Kaleckian model is also developed within a stock-flow consistent framework that includes conflicting-claim inflation and Kaldorian technical progress. Simulation results show that inflation-targeting policies based on the so-called 'Taylor rule' could remove the long-run paradoxes, leading to economic depression. These policies also fail to achieve normal rates of capacity utilization, because of 'path-dependency', in contrast to the arguments put forth by some neo-Marxists and the proponents of the neoclassical New Consensus. Furthermore, our empirical tests show that the Phillips curve has a horizontal segment within a large intermediate range of capacity utilization rates, using Canadian data over the last two decades. This horizontal Phillips curve implies that the adjustment mechanisms suggested by classical models just may not exist in reality during this time period. Therefore, the thesis offers some justification for using simple neo-Kaleckian growth models where effective demand plays a crucial role in the determination of capacity utilization, employment and growth, both in the short run and in the long run, and it suggests the use of expansionary fiscal policy and monetary policy as long as the economy remains within the intermediate range of capacity utilization. Key words: Two-Sector Growth Model; Long-Run Convergence; Paradox of Thrift; Paradox of Costs; Inflation; Phillips Curve; Monetary Policy; Stock-Flow Consistent Approach.