Les questions abordées dans les deux premiers articles de ma thèse cherchent à comprendre les facteurs économiques qui affectent la structure à terme des taux d'intérêt et la prime de risque. Je construis des modèles non linéaires d'équilibre général en y intégrant des obligations de différentes échéances. Spécifiquement, le premier article a pour objectif de comprendre la relation entre les facteurs macroéconomiques et le niveau de prime de risque dans un cadre Néo-keynésien d'équilibre général avec incertitude. L'incertitude dans le modèle provient de trois sources : les chocs de productivité, les chocs monétaires et les chocs de préférences. Le modèle comporte deux types de rigidités réelles à savoir la formation des habitudes dans les préférences et les coûts d'ajustement du stock de capital. Le modèle est résolu par la méthode des perturbations à l'ordre deux et calibré à l'économie américaine. Puisque la prime de risque est par nature une compensation pour le risque, l'approximation d'ordre deux implique que la prime de risque est une combinaison linéaire des volatilités des trois chocs. Les résultats montrent qu'avec les paramètres calibrés, les chocs réels (productivité et préférences) jouent un rôle plus important dans la détermination du niveau de la prime de risque relativement aux chocs monétaires. Je montre que contrairement aux travaux précédents (dans lesquels le capital de production est fixe), l'effet du paramètre de la formation des habitudes sur la prime de risque dépend du degré des coûts d'ajustement du capital. Lorsque les coûts d'ajustement du capital sont élevés au point que le stock de capital est fixe à l'équilibre, une augmentation du paramètre de formation des habitudes entraine une augmentation de la prime de risque. Par contre, lorsque les agents peuvent librement ajuster le stock de capital sans coûts, l'effet du paramètre de la formation des habitudes sur la prime de risque est négligeable. Ce résultat s'explique par le fait que lorsque le stock de capital peut être ajusté sans coûts, cela ouvre un canal additionnel de lissage de consommation pour les agents. Par conséquent, l'effet de la formation des habitudes sur la prime de risque est amoindri. En outre, les résultats montrent que la façon dont la banque centrale conduit sa politique monétaire a un effet sur la prime de risque. Plus la banque centrale est agressive vis-à-vis de l'inflation, plus la prime de risque diminue et vice versa. Cela est due au fait que lorsque la banque centrale combat l'inflation cela entraine une baisse de la variance de l'inflation. Par suite, la prime de risque due au risque d'inflation diminue. Dans le deuxième article, je fais une extension du premier article en utilisant des préférences récursives de type Epstein -- Zin et en permettant aux volatilités conditionnelles des chocs de varier avec le temps. L'emploi de ce cadre est motivé par deux raisons. D'abord des études récentes (Doh, 2010, Rudebusch and Swanson, 2012) ont montré que ces préférences sont appropriées pour l'analyse du prix des actifs dans les modèles d'équilibre général. Ensuite, l'hétéroscedasticité est une caractéristique courante des données économiques et financières. Cela implique que contrairement au premier article, l'incertitude varie dans le temps. Le cadre dans cet article est donc plus général et plus réaliste que celui du premier article. L'objectif principal de cet article est d'examiner l'impact des chocs de volatilités conditionnelles sur le niveau et la dynamique des taux d'intérêt et de la prime de risque. Puisque la prime de risque est constante a l'approximation d'ordre deux, le modèle est résolu par la méthode des perturbations avec une approximation d'ordre trois. Ainsi on obtient une prime de risque qui varie dans le temps. L'avantage d'introduire des chocs de volatilités conditionnelles est que cela induit des variables d'état supplémentaires qui apportent une contribution additionnelle à la dynamique de la prime de risque. Je montre que l'approximation d'ordre trois implique que les primes de risque ont une représentation de type ARCH-M (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticty in Mean) comme celui introduit par Engle, Lilien et Robins (1987). La différence est que dans ce modèle les paramètres sont structurels et les volatilités sont des volatilités conditionnelles de chocs économiques et non celles des variables elles-mêmes. J'estime les paramètres du modèle par la méthode des moments simulés (SMM) en utilisant des données de l'économie américaine. Les résultats de l'estimation montrent qu'il y a une évidence de volatilité stochastique dans les trois chocs. De plus, la contribution des volatilités conditionnelles des chocs au niveau et à la dynamique de la prime de risque est significative. En particulier, les effets des volatilités conditionnelles des chocs de productivité et de préférences sont significatifs. La volatilité conditionnelle du choc de productivité contribue positivement aux moyennes et aux écart-types des primes de risque. Ces contributions varient avec la maturité des bonds. La volatilité conditionnelle du choc de préférences quant à elle contribue négativement aux moyennes et positivement aux variances des primes de risque. Quant au choc de volatilité de la politique monétaire, son impact sur les primes de risque est négligeable. Le troisième article (coécrit avec Eric Schaling, Alain Kabundi, révisé et resoumis au journal of Economic Modelling) traite de l'hétérogénéité dans la formation des attentes d'inflation de divers groupes économiques et de leur impact sur la politique monétaire en Afrique du sud. La question principale est d'examiner si différents groupes d'agents économiques forment leurs attentes d'inflation de la même façon et s'ils perçoivent de la même façon la politique monétaire de la banque centrale (South African Reserve Bank). Ainsi on spécifie un modèle de prédiction d'inflation qui nous permet de tester l'arrimage des attentes d'inflation à la bande d'inflation cible (3% - 6%) de la banque centrale. Les données utilisées sont des données d'enquête réalisée par la banque centrale auprès de trois groupes d'agents : les analystes financiers, les firmes et les syndicats. On exploite donc la structure de panel des données pour tester l'hétérogénéité dans les attentes d'inflation et déduire leur perception de la politique monétaire. Les résultats montrent qu'il y a évidence d'hétérogénéité dans la manière dont les différents groupes forment leurs attentes. Les attentes des analystes financiers sont arrimées à la bande d'inflation cible alors que celles des firmes et des syndicats ne sont pas arrimées. En effet, les firmes et les syndicats accordent un poids significatif à l'inflation retardée d'une période et leurs prédictions varient avec l'inflation réalisée (retardée). Ce qui dénote un manque de crédibilité parfaite de la banque centrale au vu de ces agents. / This thesis consists of three essays in the areas of macro finance and monetary economics. The first two essays deal with the analysis of the term structure of interest rates in dynamic and stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. The third essay explores inflation expectations formation across different economic groups in South Africa. Interest rates are one channel through which monetary policy affects the real economy. Typically, central banks implement monetary policy by influencing short term interest rates. Theoretically, the interest rate on a long-term bond is the average of expected future short term interest rates over the maturity period, plus a risk premium demanded by the holder of the bond to compensate for the risk involved in holding a longer maturity bond. Therefore, any changes in the target rate of the central bank and the risk premium affect long -- term interest rates, such as mortgage rates and interest rates on certain durable goods. It is then important for the central bank to understand the economic factors that affect both components of long - term interest namely the market expectations about the short - term rates and the risk premium. For example, recently in the U.S. economy, between June 2004 and June 2006, the ineffectiveness of monetary policy to affect long - term interest rates has been attributed to a decline in risk premium over this period, which has offset the effect of the increase in the target rate of the Federal Reserve (Fed). In the implementation of its monetary policy, the central bank can more or less control agents' expectations through transparent communication. However, the risk premium is endogenous and unobservable and therefore can not be fully controlled by the central bank. On the other hand, achieving the goal of prices stability in an inflation targeting framework depends on the credibility of the central bank. In the first two essays I explore the economic factors of the term structure of interest rates and risk premiums. I build a non-linear dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models whereby I incorporate a range of bonds with different maturities. Specifically, the goal of the first essay is to understand the relationship between macroeconomic factors and the level of risk premium in a New Keynesian general equilibrium framework. Uncertainty in the model comes from three sources: productivity, monetary policy and, preferences shocks. The model has two types of real rigidities namely habit formation in preferences and adjustment costs in capital stock. The model is solved by perturbation method up to second order and calibrated to the U.S. economy. Since the risk premium is by nature a compensation for risk, the second - order approximation implies that the risk premium is a linear combination of the volatility of the three shocks. Results show that at the calibrated parameters, real shocks (productivity and preferences) play a more important role in determining the level of the risk premium relative to monetary shocks. I show that, contrary to previous work (where production capital is fixed), the effect of habit formation on the risk premium depends on the degree of capital adjustment cost. When capital adjustment costs are so high that the capital stock is fixed in equilibrium, an increase in the parameter of habit formation leads to an increase in the risk premium. However, when agents can freely adjust the capital stock without cost, the effect of the habit formation parameter on the risk premium is negligible. This result is explained by the fact that when the capital stock can be adjusted without cost, it opens an additional channel to the agents for consumption smoothing. Therefore, the effect of habit formation on the risk premium is reduced. In addition, the results show that the way the central bank conducts its monetary policy has an effect on the risk premium. The more aggressive the central bank vis-à-vis inflation, the lower the risk premium and vice versa. This is due to the fact that when the central bank fights against inflation it leads to a decrease in the variance of inflation. As a result, the risk premium due to inflation risk decreases. In the second essay, I extend the analysis of the first essay by using recursive preferences (as those proposed by Epstein - Zin) and by allowing the conditional volatility of the shocks to be time - varying. The use of this framework is motivated by two reasons. First, recent studies (Doh, 2010, Rudebusch and Swanson, 2012) showed that these preferences are appropriate for the analysis of asset prices in general equilibrium models. Second, heteroscedasticity is a prominent feature of economic and financial data. This implies that, contrary to the first essay, the uncertainty here is time - varying. Thus, the framework in this essay is more general and realistic than in the first essay. The main objective of this paper is to examine the impact of uncertainty due to conditional volatility of the shocks on the level and the dynamics of interest rates and risk premiums. Since the risk premium is constant at second order approximation, the model is solved by the perturbation method with an approximation of order three in order to get a time - varying risk premium. The advantage of introducing shocks conditional volatilities is that , it induces additional state variables that provide an additional contribution to the dynamics of the risk premium. I show that the risk premiums implied by the third -- order approximate solution have an ARCH-M (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticty in Mean) type representation as that introduced by Engle, Lilien and Robins (1987). The difference is that in this model the parameters are structural and the volatilities are conditional volatility of economic shocks and not those of the variables themselves. I estimate the model parameters by Simulated Method of Moments (SMM) using U.S. data. The estimation results show that there is evidence of stochastic volatility in the three shocks. Moreover, the contribution of conditional shocks volatility to the level and the dynamics of the risk premium is significant. In particular, the effects of the conditional volatility of productivity and preferences shocks are important. The conditional volatility of the productivity shock contributes positively to the means and standard deviations of risk premiums. These contributions vary with the maturity of the bonds. Conditional volatility of the preferences shock contributes negatively to the averages and positively to the variances of risk premiums. As for the impact of volatility of monetary policy shock, its impact on the risk premium is negligible. The third article (coauthored with Eric Schaling and Alain Kabundi, revised and resubmitted to the journal of Economic Modelling) deals with heterogeneity in inflation expectations of different economic agents and its impact on monetary policy in South Africa. The main question is to examine whether different groups of economic agents form their inflation expectations in the same way and if they perceive the central bank (South African Reserve Bank) monetary policy in the say way. We specify an inflation expectation model that allows us to directly test whether inflation expectations are anchored or not to the inflation target band (3% - 6%). The data used are inflation expectations data from surveys conducted by the central bank. There are three groups of agents: financial analysts, businesses and trade unions. We therefore exploits the panel structure of the data to test the heterogeneity in inflation expectations and derive their perceived inflation targets. Results show that there is evidence of heterogeneity in the way the three groups form their expectations. The expectations of financial analysts are well anchored to the central bank target band while those of businesses and trade unions are not. In fact, businesses and trade unions put a higher weight on lagged realized inflation in their expectations. This Indicates a lack of full credibility of the central bank.

In this thesis I evaluate the departures of three common assumptions in macroeconomic modeling and estimation, namely the Rational Expectations (RE) hypothesis, the representative agent assumption and the use of first-order approximations in the estimation of dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) models. In the first chapter I determine how the use of survey data on inflation expectations in the estimation of a model alters the evaluation of the RE assumption in comparison to an alternative assumption, namely learning. In chapter two, I use heterogeneous agent models to determine the relationship between income volatility and the demand for durable goods. In the third chapter I evaluate if the use of first-order approximations in the estimation of a model could affect the evaluation of the determinants of the Great Moderation. / En esta tesis analizo desvíos de tres supuestos comunes en la elaboración y estimación de modelos macroeconómicos. Estos supuestos son la Hipótesis de Expectativas Racionales (ER), el supuesto del Agente Representativo, y el uso de aproximaciones de primer orden en la estimación de los modelos de equilibrio general. En el primer capítulo determino como el empleo de datos de expectativas de inflación en la estimación de un modelo puede alterar la evaluación del supuesto de ER en comparación a un supuesto alternativo como learning. En el segundo capítulo, utilizo modelos de agentes heterogéneos para determinar la relación entre la volatilidad de los ingresos y la demanda de bienes durables. En el tercer capítulo, analizo si el uso de aproximaciones de primer orden afecta la evaluación de los determinantes de la Gran Moderación.

Submitted by Rafael Burjack Farias Duarte (burjack86@gmail.com) on 2016-04-08T00:01:56Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by GILSON ROCHA MIRANDA (gilson.miranda@fgv.br) on 2016-06-02T16:47:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Marcia Bacha (marcia.bacha@fgv.br) on 2016-06-13T18:12:59Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-13T18:13:41Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Final_bib.pdf: 5471404 bytes, checksum: 29bf9321d29ec324d42b89681de3eb28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-11-27 / Using a unique dataset on Brazilian nominal and real yield curves combined with daily survey forecasts of macroeconomic variables such as GDP growth, inflation, and exchange rate movements, we identify the effect of surprises to the Brazilian interbank target rate on expected future nominal and real short rates, term premia, and inflation expectations. We find that positive surprises to target rates lead to higher expected nominal and real interest rates and reduced nominal and inflation term premia. We also find a strongly positive relation between both real and nominal term premia and measures of dispersion in survey forecasts. Uncertainty about future exchange rates is a particularly important driver of variations in Brazilian term premia.

Submitted by Carlos Roberto Simões Chaves (carloschaves_88@hotmail.com) on 2017-07-20T14:14:35Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Carlos Chaves_final_entrega.pdf: 1016182 bytes, checksum: e5eeabf21bc225b6b1308e739fd8bf80 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by GILSON ROCHA MIRANDA (gilson.miranda@fgv.br) on 2017-08-29T15:27:45Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Carlos Chaves_final_entrega.pdf: 1016182 bytes, checksum: e5eeabf21bc225b6b1308e739fd8bf80 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-06T19:49:12Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Carlos Chaves_final_entrega.pdf: 1016182 bytes, checksum: e5eeabf21bc225b6b1308e739fd8bf80 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-05-19 / This paper examines the impact of expected inflation on stock returns and earnings per share projections for the next 12 months. We used the Ibovespa's weekly real returns and FOCUS survey for IPCA and Industrial Production growth. A one-percentage point increase in projected inflation over the next 12 months is associated with a decline of 0.56 percentage points in the weekly Ibovespa real change to a significance level of 1%. No statistically significant relationships were found between the expected inflation and the projections for Ibovespa's profits. It was verified that the Ibovespa's weekly returns also react negatively to the 5-year CDS oscillations and the VIX index. / Este trabalho examina o impacto da inflação esperada sobre os retornos das ações e as projeções de lucros por ação para os próximos 12 meses. Utilizamos os retornos reais semanais do Ibovespa e as expectativas da pesquisa FOCUS para o IPCA e crescimento da Produção Industrial. Um aumento de 1 ponto percentual na inflação projetada paras os próximos 12 meses está associado a um declínio de 0.56 pontos percentuais na variação real semanal do Ibovespa para um nível de significância de 1%. Não foram encontradas relações estatisticamente significativas entre a inflação esperada e as projeções para os lucros das empresas do Ibovespa. Verificou-se que os retornos semanais do Ibovespa também reagem negativamente às oscilações do CDS de 5 anos e o índice VIX.

Submitted by PEDRO ALVES (pguedesalves@gmail.com) on 2013-09-17T14:48:59Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao pedro guedes alves final.pdf: 359622 bytes, checksum: 4ea301abbbeba3d60296bea87411ee79 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Vitor Souza (vitor.souza@fgv.br) on 2013-10-09T15:39:12Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao pedro guedes alves final.pdf: 359622 bytes, checksum: 4ea301abbbeba3d60296bea87411ee79 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-11T13:21:08Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao pedro guedes alves final.pdf: 359622 bytes, checksum: 4ea301abbbeba3d60296bea87411ee79 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-05-31 / Este trabalho busca medir a credibilidade do Banco Central Brasileiro. Utiliza-se como medida da credibilidade, a variação do prêmio de risco de inflação em função de surpresas inflacionárias de curto prazo no índice IPCA. Primeiro evidencia-se que as expectativas inflacionárias de médio prazo são afetadas pelas surpresas inflacionárias, este efeito é causado por dois motivos, a indexação da economia e/ou a falta de credibilidade da autoridade monetária. Em seguida verifica-se que as surpresas inflacionárias também tem efeito sobre o premio de risco de inflação o que indica falta de credibilidade do banco central. / This paper seeks to measure the credibility of the Brazilian Central Bank. It uses as a measure of credibility, the change in the inflation risk premium in terms of short-term inflationary surprises in the IPCA index. At first, it is shown that the medium-term inflation expectations are affected by inflation surprises, this effect is caused by two reasons, the indexation of the economy and/or lack of credibility of the monetary authority. Then it is observed that the inflation surprises also have an effect on the inflation risk premium, which indicates a lack of credibility of the central bank.

This thesis focuses on analysis of current problems of so called "South wing countries" of EMU and Ireland (countries which are being called "PIIGS") from the theory of optimum currency area point of view. It uses the static and dynamic version of the theory as a framework for analyzing the problems of internal and external imbalance within those countries and mainly the connection between current accounts deficits, high level of private and public debts, loss of competitiveness in international trade and high percent of unemployment. The thesis comes with a conclusion that the main factors behind the crisis were inflation and inflation expectations which then through different inflation differentials created asymmetric shocks in monetary policy. This inflation differential phenomenon is described in Walters critique and with other theories creates the basis of analytical part. In the appendix it assesses the readiness of Czech Republic for accepting the euro, based on the analysis made in this thesis.

This thesis maps development of money illusion through the history of economic thought and analyzes relevance of the concept in these days. The story begins in 1928 with Irving Fisher, who saw money illusion as a failure to perceive changes in purchasing power of money. Different notion was developed by John Maynard Keynes when he proposed a non-homogeneous labor supply. In the 1970s, the success of rational expectations theory led to a dismissal of the original theories of money illusion and Tobin's critique revealed also an inconsistency of the Keynesian notion. Since then, money illusion lost its position in the mainstream economic science. The modern theories were, however, able to align money illusion with rational expectations and provided the phenomenon with a psychological framework. Money illusion became described as a tendency to think in nominal rather than real terms. While the concept was revived as a part of behavioral and New Keynesian economics, the question of its aggregate effects remains as the Keynes' inconsistency have not been resolved until these days.

Please note: This degree was awarded by the University of Kwazulu-Natal. Permission was granted to archive it in this database for teaching purposes.This study reports the development and use of an original methodology to measure inflation credibility, as well as the first results of such measurement in terms of an inflation credibility barometer. The barometer is an instrument measuring the degree of acceptance of the accuracy of historic inflation figures. Despite the lack of knowledge about inflation and the low inflation credibility recorded by this first calculation of an inflation credibility barometer for South Africa, valuable information about inflation is unveiled to the authorities. The research results serve as a benchmark, but cannot be compared to earlier research, as this study represents the first systematic measurement of inflation credibility in South Africa. The barometer yields better results than the limited current international measurement of perceptions of the accuracy of historic inflation figures. The barometer (i) reports the credibility of inflation figures as a figure between zero and 100; (ii) will highlight changes in credibility over time with repeated use; (iii) can be explained easily to the general public; (iv) provides for international comparison between countries; and (v) can be used by all countries. The use of inflation credibility barometers and changes in barometer readings over time can also serve as an early warning system for changes in inflation perceptions that might feed through to inflation expectations. Sampling results used to calculate a South African inflation credibility barometer show little public understanding of the rate of inflation. Owing to an increased focus on inflation figures in countries using an inflation-targeting monetary policy, central banks entrusted with such a policy should adopt a communication strategy highlighting the calculation and measurement of the rate of inflation. This study shows that no generally accepted international benchmarks for successful central-bank communication strategies have been developed, but the use of the methodology developed in this study will assist in the assessment of the effectiveness of communication strategies. This study makes three further contributions of significance to available literature on inflation in South Africa. The first is an analysis of prices increases and inflation over a period of 85 years (1921 to 2006) and a selected comparison of salaries and remuneration over a period of 78 years (1929 to 2006). To this end data sets were developed for comparative purposes, thereby distinguishing between perception and reality about the accuracy of inflation figures over time. As this comparison has not been done before, a methodology was developed that can be used in future research. Based on these comparisons an inflation accuracy indicator (IAI) is developed for the first time. The research showed no systematic over or under-reporting of price increases, therefore confirming the general accuracy of the consumer price index (CPI) over time. As with the inflation credibility barometer, this methodology can be used internationally to confirm the accuracy of countries’ inflation figures over time. This methodology can also be used by developing countries with capacity constraints in economic modelling and forecasting. The second contribution to available literature is the first analysis of South Africa’s experience with inflation over a period of 85 years from the perspective of the central bank. This analysis highlights not only the difficulties encountered by a central bank to contain inflation, but also focuses the attention on the policy errors of the authorities in their quest to contain rising prices. The third contribution is an analysis of international and domestic initiatives aimed at improving the accuracy and measurement of inflation. The implications of these initiatives for developing countries are considered in the interest of a level international playing field between developed and developing countries. eo / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2008. / Economics / PhD / Unrestricted

This manuscript is composed of three chapters.In the first chapter, I analyze the impact of key European Central Bank’s unconventional monetary policy announcements on inflation expectations, measured by Euro Area five-year Inflation Linked Swap rates five years ahead, since the aftermath of the crisis. I control for market liquidity and uncertainty measures, change in oil price shock and macroeconomic news. The results show that the impact of the European Central Bank’s announcements has been positive during the period under observation. Along the line of the expansionary monetary policy measures implemented, the agents have been revising upwards their long term inflation expectations. This means that the unconventional monetary policy measures were effective. In the second chapter, co-authored with Claudia Pacella, we construct a Bayesian vector autoregressive model with three layers of information: the key drivers of inflation, cross-country dynamic interactions, and country-specific variables. The model provides good forecasting accuracy with respect to the popular benchmarks used in the literature. We perform a step-by-step analysis to shed light on which layer of information is more crucial for accurately forecasting euro area inflation. Our empirical analysis reveals the importance of including the key drivers of inflation and taking into account the multi-country dimension of the euro area. The results show that the complete model performs better overall in forecasting inflation excluding energy and unprocessed food over the medium-term. We use the model to establish stylized facts on the euro area and cross-country heterogeneity over the business cycle. In the third chapter, using confidential firm-level data from the National Bank of Belgium, I document the heterogeneous response of firms’ markups to the 2008 financial crisis. Overall, markups increased in the aftermath of the crisis and the effect was larger for highly financially constrained firms. I show that standard heterogeneous-firm models, featuring monopolistic competition and variable markups, are unable to replicate these patterns. I then introduce endogenous demand shifters which respond to firm investment in market share (e.g. quality). I show that the interaction of an increase in the cost of procuring inputs combined with an endogenous quality downgrading can rationalize the observed changes in firm-level markups. / Doctorat en Sciences économiques et de gestion / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

We study how individuals' formation of inflation expectations are affected by the stringent containment and economic support measures put in place during the COVID‐19 pandemic. Using the New York Fed Survey of Consumer Expectations (SCE) and the Oxford COVID‐19 Government Response Tracker (OxCGRT), we find that policies aimed at containing the pandemic lead to an increase in individuals' inflation expectations and inflation uncertainty. We also find some heterogeneity in the impact across different demographic groups.