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La tesis consta de dos partes. En la primera parte se analiza la relación entre las fricciones en los flujos de información que llegan a la empresa y la persistencia del patrón de la inflación. En particular, se presenta un nuevo estimador por el modelo de Makiw y Reis (2002) "Sticky Information Phillips Curve", y se aplica usando datos trimestrales de EE.UU. El resultado principal es que el modelo tan solo puede explicar la persistencia de la inflación asumiendo que la variancia de la inflación sea mucho mas grande de la que observamos o, equivalentemente, que el modelo no puede explicar conjuntamente la variancia y la persistencia de la inflación.En la segunda parte se presentan nuevas evidencias sobre la publicidad agregada en EE.UU. y se estudian los efectos de la publicidad en la economía usando un modelo dinámico estocástico de equilibrio general. En particular, el capitulo 2 se enfoca en las relaciones de corto plazo entre las mas comunes variables macroeconómicas - consumo agregado, producto interno bruto, totalidad de horas trabajadas en la economía - y la publicidad agregada, con particular atención a la relación de causalidad entre publicidad y consumo. En cambio, el capitulo 3 se enfoca sobre las relaciones de largo plazo, enseñando como la publicidad agregada afecte el nivel de trabajo de la economía. A través del modelo presentado en el capitulo 2, se demuestra que un mayor nivel de publicidad implica un mayor números de oras trabajadas asociadas con un menor nivel de bienestar por los consumidores. / This thesis is organized in two parts. In the first one, I seek to understand the relationship between frictions in information flows among firms and inflation persistence. To this end, I present a novel estimator for the Sticky Information Phillips Curve (Mankiw and Reis, 2002), and I use it to estimate this model with U.S. postwar data. The main result is that the Sticky Information Phillips Curve can match inflation persistence only at the cost of mispredicting inflation variance. I conclude that the Sticky Information Phillips Curve is a valid model to explain inflation persistence but not an overall valid theory of inflation. The second part presents new evidence about aggregate advertising expenditures in U.S., and analyzes the effect of advertising in the aggregate economy by the mean of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model. Chapter 2 focuses on the short run impact of advertising on the aggregate dynamics, and shows that an increase in aggregate advertising significantly increases the aggregate consumption. Chapter 3 focuses on the long run effects of advertising on the labor supply, showing that in economies where aggregate advertising is higher, agents supply more hours of works and are generally worse off in terms of welfare.

[pt] Esta tese incorpora três ensaios acerca de fixação de preços com informação rígida e dispersa (IRD). A estrutura básica mistura o modelo de rigidez de informação proposto em Mankiw and Reis (2002) com o modelo de informação dispersa descrito em Morris and Shin (2002). No capítulo 1, obtémse o equilíbrio do jogo assumindo que as firmas se deparam com complementaridade estratégica em suas decisões de preço. Neste contexto, as firmas tomam suas decisões de preço utilizando a informação disponível para prever os preços das outras firmas e a demanda agregada nominal, o fundamento da nossa economia. Estuda-se a importância de cada parâmetro do modelo em vários contextos. No capítulo 2, estende-se o modelo IRD para analisar como a comunicação do banco central interfere na fixação de preços. Como informação pública ajuda às firmas a prever o estado atual da economia e as ações uma das outras, ela ajuda na sincronia dos preços. Este efeito faz a variância da inflação aumentar com a precisão da informação pública. Além disso, o bem-estar da sociedade é afetado pelo fato de que as firmas tomam suas decisões de preços sem considerar como isto influenciará a decisão das outras firmas. No capítulo 3, utilize-se o modelo com IRD para analisar como a fixação de preços muda quando a taxa de juros, além de ser um instrumento de política capaz de influenciar a dinâmica do fundamento, também é vista como um sinal público que informa a visão da autoridade monetária acerca do estado atual da economia. Sob este arcabouço, firmas utilizam a taxa de juros para embasar suas decisões de preços. Obtêm-se também os parâmetros ótimos do instrumento de política (para três medidas diferentes de bem-estar), considerando-se que o banco central sabe que as firmas extraem informação de suas ações. / [en] This thesis encompasses three essays on price setting under stickydispersed information (SDI). The baseline framework mixes the sticky information model of Mankiw and Reis (2002) with dispersed information models like Morris and Shin (2002) and Angeletos and Pavan (2007). In Chapter 1, we derive the equilibrium of the game assuming that firms face strategic complementarity on their pricing decisions. In this context, firms take their pricing decisions using information to build expectations on the prices set by other firms and on the current state of aggregate nominal demand - the fundamental of the economy. In Chapter 2, we extend the SDI model to analyze how central bank communication affects price setting. As public information help firms to infer the current state of the economy and one another s prices, it improves price synchronization. This effect makes inflation variance increase with the precision of the public information. Social welfare is affected by the fact that firms do not internalize how their prices change other firms pricing decisions. In Chapter 3, we use a SDI model to analyze how price setting changes when the interest rate is a policy instrument that not only partially drives the fundamental dynamics, but also it is understood as a public signal that informs the view of the monetary authority on the current state of the economy. Under this framework, firms use interest rate to support their pricing decisions, influencing inflation dynamics. We also obtain the optimal parameters of the policy instrument (regarding three different efficiency criteria), considering that the central bank knows that firms take information from its actions.

[pt] Esta tese consiste em três ensaios teóricos sobre tópicos relativos à fixação de preços sob informação incompleta. Duas características são comuns aos três ensaios: (i) informação heterogênea sobre condições econômicas agregadas e (ii) um grau moderado de complementaridade estratégica nas decisões de preços. No Capítulo 1, estuda-se a transmissão de informação em um modelo com estágios de produção e informação dispersa. Firmas observam sinais sobre os preços dos insumos que endogenizam a precisão da informação que é pública dentro de um estágio, mas não entre os estágios. Em contraste com o caso com sinal público exógeno, as firmas decidem otimamente atribuir menos peso a informação pública ao longo da cadeia. Uma implicação é que a precisão da informação, que ficaria inalterada com sinais públicos exógenos, decresce ao longo da cadeia com sinais semi-públicos endógenos. No Capítulo 2, examinase o processo de repasse cambial (ERPT) para os preços em um modelo de informação dispersa onde a taxa de câmbio nominal fornece informação sobre os fundamentos de forma imperfeita. Quando a informação é completa, ERPT também é completa. Sob informação dispersa, o modelo apresenta três propriedades consistentes com os fatos estilizados de ERPT. Primeiro, ERPT está entre 0 e 1. Segundo, ERPT é normalmente maior para produtos importados do que para produtos ao consumidor. Terceiro, ERPT é maior para economias emergente e diminuiu ao longo do tempo tanto para economias industrializadas quanto emergentes. Finalmente, no Capítulo 3, estuda-se a interação entre rigidez e dispersão de informação através da introdução de sinais com ruído em um modelo padrão de curva de Phillips com rigidez de informação. O modelo de informação rígida e dispersa (SDI) resultante apresenta como casos particulares os modelos de informação completa, dispersa e rígida. Estuda-se a relevância individual dos principais parâmetros do modelo em várias direções. Primeiro, analisa-se o impacto dos valores corrente e passados da inflação com informação completa na inflação corrente. Segundo, consideram-se as respostas da inflação a choques monetários. Finalmente, compara-se a variância da inflação SDI com as variâncias da inflação quando a informação é completa, dispersa ou rígida. / [en] This thesis consists of three theoretical essays on topics in price setting under imperfect information. Unifying the essays are two features: (i) heterogeneous information about aggregate economic conditions and (ii) a moderate degree of complementarity in pricing decisions. In Chapter 1, the transmission of information is studied in a model with a vertical input-output structure and dispersed information. Firms observe input prices with noise that endogenize the precision of information that is public within a stage but not across stages. In contrast to the case with an exogenous and overall public signal, firms find it optimal to rely less on public information along the chain. A direct implication is that, while information precision remains unchanged with exogenous public signals, it decreases along the chain when semi-public signals are endogenous. In Chapter 2, exchange-rate pass-through (ERPT) to prices is examined in a model of dispersed information where the nominal exchange rate imperfectly conveys information about the underlying fundamentals. If the information is complete, ERPT is also complete. Under dispersed information, the model displays three properties that are consistent with the stylized facts of passthrough. First, ERPT lies between 0 and 1. Second, ERPT is usually higher for imported goods prices than for consumer prices. Third, ERPT is higher for emerging market countries and declines over time for both industrial and emerging market economies. Finally, in Chapter 3, the interaction between information stickiness and dispersion is studied by introducing noisy signals in an otherwise standard sticky-information Phillips curve. The model of stickydispersed information (SDI) nests as special cases the complete information, the dispersed information and the sticky information models. The individual relevance of each of the main parameters of the model is studied in several directions. First, the impact of current and past complete-information inflation rates on current inflation is analyzed. Second, the inflation response to monetary shocks is considered. Finally, the variance of SDI inflation is compared with the variances of complete, dispersed, or sticky-information inflations.

Dans cette thèse nous examinons différents aspects des fluctuations dans les économies émergentes. Premièrement, afin d’établir les régularités empiriques de ces pays nous examinons le contexte économique des pays du Moyen Orient et d’Afrique du Nord. Ensuite, nous estimons un modèle des cycles réels pour essayer de reproduire les faits stylisés de ces pays, mais aussi pour évaluer la performance de ces modèles néoclassiques augmentés de deux types de chocs de productivité transitoire et permanent. Ceci fait l’objet du chapitre 2 dont le résultat est en faveur de l'hypothèse "Le cycle c'est la tendance" . Le deuxième aspect porte sur l’importance des frictions financières, il est traité dans le troisième chapitre qui introduit des chocs financiers au modèle de croissance stochastique. Nous identifions le rôle des frictions financières dans l’économie tunisienne comme étant un amplificateur de l’effet des chocs de productivité. Le quatrième chapitre porte sur l'analyse de la politique monétaire. Premièrement, nous examinons le régime de ciblage d’inflation où nos résultats empiriques supportent une implémentation de la stricte version du ciblage d’inflation avec une fonction de réaction basée sur des prévisions de l'inflation. Deuxièmement, nous exploitant les règles monétaires optimales en présence de la rigidité d l'information dans le cadre d’un modèle stochastique d’équilibre général (DSGE). Nos résultats, révèlent que les chocs du taux de marge de la force de travail jouent un rôle important dans les fluctuations de l’économie tunisienne, la règle de Taylor produit un taux satisfaisant de bien être, alors que les règles qui ciblent le niveau de prix ne sont pas efficaces. / This thesis investigates different aspects of the fluctuations in emerging economies. First, it examines the MENA countries’ context to establish the empirical regularities. Then, to replicate the MENA countries’ business cycle patterns observed in the annual data, we estimate a standard real business cycle (RBC) model to assess the performance of the neoclassical model with transitory and permanent shocks. This is the purpose of chapter 2 which results support the assumption "The cycle is the trend". The second aspect refers to the importance of financial frictions and is addressed in the third chapter which adds new financial shocks to the stochastic growth model. We determine the role of financial frictions in the Tunisian economy not as the source of business cycle fluctuations but as an amplifier of the effects of total factor of productivity shocks.The fourth chapter analyzes monetary policy in emerging economies. Firstly, we examine the inflation targeting regime under the lens of a New Keynesian forward-looking model. We also, estimate a Taylor rule and some other alternatives in order to determine which rule to adopt within this framework. Empirical results support the implementation of a strict inflation targeting regime, with an inflation forecast based rule as a reaction function. Secondly, we explore the optimal monetary policy rules using a New Keynesian DSGE model. In particular we assume that information stickiness as the only type of rigidity in the model. We find that Whereas, Taylor rule in its original version provides substantial welfare gains, price-level targeting regime was suboptimal.

Diese Dissertation besteht aus drei Aufsätzen, welche die Effekte von Geld- und Fiskalpolitiken für die Makroökonomie untersuchen. Der erste Aufsatz analysiert, wie das Verhalten der Inflation nach z.B. geldpolitischen Veränderungen erklärt werden kann. Mankiw und Reis (2002) propagieren klebrige Information als eine Alternative zu Calvo klebrigen Preisen, um drei konventionelle Sichtweisen über die Inflation zu modellieren. Ich verwende ein DSGE Modell mit klebriger Information und vergleiche es mit Calvo klebrigen Preisen mit dynamischer Inflationsindexierung wie in Christiano et al. (2005). Ich zeige, dass beide Modelle in meinem DSGE Rahmen gleich gut geeignet sind, die konventionellen Sichtweisen zu erklären. Der zweite Aufsatz untersucht, wie sich das Verhalten von Haushalten und Firmen in den USA und EU-15 infolge von Steuerveränderungen anpasst. Mittels eines neoklassischen Wachstumsmodells zeigt sich, dass die USA und EU-15 auf der linken Seite der Lohn- und Kapitalsteuer Laffer Kurve liegen. Die EU-15 befindet sich jedoch viel näher an der rutschigen Steigung als die USA. Eine dynamische Scoring-Analyse zeigt, dass Steuersenkungen in der EU-15 stärker selbstfinanzierend sind als in den USA. Es folgt, dass es in der EU-15 grössere Anreize durch Steuersenkungen als in den USA gibt. Der dritte Aufsatz analysiert, ob die Fiskalpolitik Steuerreformen vor deren Implementierung vorankündigen soll, um die Wohlfahrt zu maximieren. Domeij und Klein (2005) zeigen, dass Vorankündigung einer optimalen Steuerreform mit Wohlfahrtskosten verbunden ist. Ich prüfe diese Behauptung unter zusätzlicher Berücksichtigung von öffentlichen Gütern und Kapital nach. Ich zeige, dass nutzenbringende und produktive Staatsausgaben die Wohlfahrtskosten durch Vorankündigungen höchstwahrscheinlich reduzieren. Es zeigt sich weiter, dass kurzfristige Konfiszierung und/oder Subvention von Kapital und Löhnen nicht wichtig für die Wohlfahrsgewinne einer hinreichend vorangekündigten Steuerreform sind. / This dissertation consists of three essays which investigate the economic implications of monetary and fiscal policies on the macroeconomy. The first essay focuses on the question: how can we explain the behavior of inflation in response to e.g. monetary policy changes? Mankiw and Reis (2002) propose sticky information as an alternative to Calvo sticky prices to model three conventional views about inflation. We use a fully-fledged DSGE model with sticky information and compare it to Calvo sticky prices, allowing also for dynamic inflation indexation as in Christiano et al. (2005). We find that both models do equally well in our DSGE framework in delivering the conventional views. The second essay analyzes the question: how does the behavior of households and firms in the US compared to the EU-15 adjust if fiscal policy changes taxes? Using a calibrated neoclassical growth model we show that the US and the EU-15 are located on the left side of their labor and capital tax Laffer curves, but the EU-15 being much closer to the slippery slopes than the US. A dynamic scoring analysis shows that tax cuts in the EU-15 are much more self-financing than in the US. We conclude that there are higher incentive effects in the EU-15 compared to the US in response to tax cuts. Finally, the third essay focuses on the question: should fiscal policy pre-announce tax reforms before their implementation from a welfare point of view? Domeij and Klein (2005) show that pre-announcement of an optimal tax reform is costly in terms of welfare. We reexamine their claim by taking two additional features of government spending into account: public goods and public capital. We show that valuable and productive government spending is likely to reduce the welfare costs of preannouncement. As a further contribution, we show that short-run confiscation and/or subsidy of capital and labor income is not important for the welfare gains of pre-announced reforms with sufficiently long pre-announcement duration.