Bargaining, Fairness, and Price Rigidity in a DSGE Environment
Bargaining, Fairness, and Price Rigidity in a DSGE Environment

Author: David M. Arseneau

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 80

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"A growing body of evidence suggests that an important reason why firms do not change prices nearly as much as standard theory predicts is out of concern for disrupting ongoing customer relationships because price changes may be viewed as "unfair". Existing models that try to capture this concern regarding price-setting are all based on goods markets that are fundamentally Walrasian. In Walrasian goods markets, transactions are spot, making the idea of ongoing customer relationships somewhat difficult to understand. We develop a simple dynamic general equilibrium model of a search-based goods market to make precise the notion of a customer as a repeat buyer at a particular location. In this environment, the transactions price plays a distributive role as well as an allocative role. We exploit this distributive role of prices to explore how concerns for fairness influence price dynamics. Using pricing schemes with bargaining-theoretic foundations, we show that the particular way in which a "fair" outcome is determined matters for price dynamics. The most stark result we find is that complete price stability can arise endogenously. There are issues about which models based on standard Walrasian goods markets are silent"--P. 1.

Sovereign CDs and Bond Pricing Dynamics in Emerging Markets
Sovereign CDs and Bond Pricing Dynamics in Emerging Markets

Author: John Ammer

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 52

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"We examine the relationships between credit default swap (CDS) premiums and bond yield spreads for nine emerging market sovereign borrowers. We find that these two measures of credit risk deviate considerably in the short run, due to factors such as liquidity and contract specifications, but we estimate a stable long-term equilibrium relationship for most countries. In particular, CDS premiums tend to move more than one-for-one with yield spreads, which we show is broadly consistent with the presence of a significant "cheapest-to-deliver" (CTD) option. In addition, we find a variety of cross-sectional evidence of a CTD option being incorporated into CDS premiums. In our analysis of the short-term dynamics, we find that CDS premiums often move ahead of the bond market. However, we also find that bond spreads lead CDS premiums for emerging market sovereigns more often than has been found for investment-grade corporate credits, consistent with the CTD option impeding CDS liquidity for our riskier set of borrowers. Furthermore, the CDS market is less likely to lead for sovereigns that have issued more bonds, suggesting that the relative liquidity of the two markets is a key determinant of where price discovery occurs"--Federal Reserve Board web site.

Testing for Cointegration Using the Johansen Methodology when Variables are Near-integrated
Testing for Cointegration Using the Johansen Methodology when Variables are Near-integrated

Author: Erik Hjalmarsson

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 28

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We investigate the properties of Johansen's (1988, 1991) maximum eigenvalue and trace tests for cointegration under the empirically relevant situation of near-integrated variables. Using Monte Carlo techniques, we show that in a system with near-integrated variables, the probability of reaching an erroneous conclusion regarding the cointegrating rank of the system is generally substantially higher than the nominal size. The risk of concluding that completely unrelated series are cointegrated is therefore non-negligible. The spurious rejection rate can be reduced by performing additional tests of restrictions on the cointegrating vector(s), although it is still substantially larger than the nominal size.

The Stambaugh Bias in Panel Predictive Regressions
The Stambaugh Bias in Panel Predictive Regressions

Author: Erik Hjalmarsson

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 26

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This paper analyzes predictive regressions in a panel data setting. The standard fixed effects estimator suffers from a small sample bias, which is the analogue of the Stambaugh bias in time-series predictive regressions. Monte Carlo evidence shows that the bias and resulting size distortions can be severe. A new bias-corrected estimator is proposed, which is shown to work well in finite samples and to lead to approximately normally distributed t-statistics. Overall, the results show that the econometric issues associated with predictive regressions when using time-series data to a large extent also carry over to the panel case. The results are illustrated with an application to predictability in international stock indices.

Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Customer Markets
Optimal Fiscal and Monetary Policy in Customer Markets

Author: David M. Arseneau

Publisher:

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 58

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A growing body of evidence suggests that ongoing relationships between consumers and firms may be important for understanding price dynamics. We investigate whether the existence of such customer relationships has important consequences for the conduct of both long-run and short-run policy. Our central result is that when consumers and firms are engaged in long-term relationships, the optimal rate of price inflation volatility is very low even though all prices are completely flexible. This finding is in contrast to those obtained in first-generation Ramsey models of optimal fiscal and monetary policy, which are based on Walrasian markets. Echoing the basic intuition of models based on sticky prices, unanticipated inflation in our environment causes a type of relative price distortion across markets. Such distortions stem from fundamental trading frictions that give rise to long-lived customer relationships and makes pursuing inflation stability optimal.

A Residual-based Cointegration Test for Near Unit Root Variables
A Residual-based Cointegration Test for Near Unit Root Variables

Author: Erik Hjalmarsson

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 40

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Methods of inference based on a unit root assumption in the data are typically not robust to even small deviations from this assumption. In this paper, we propose robust procedures for a residual-based test of cointegration when the data are generated by a near unit root process. A Bonferroni method is used to address the uncertainty regarding the exact degree of persistence in the process. We thus provide a method for valid inference in multivariate near unit root processes where standard cointegration tests may be subject to substantial size distortions and standard OLS inference may lead to spurious results. Empirical illustrations are given by: (i) a re-examination of the Fisher hypothesis, and (ii) a test of the validity of the cointegrating relationship between aggregate consumption, asset holdings, and labor income, which has attracted a great deal of attention in the recent finance literature.

Monthly Estimates of U.S. Cross-border Securities Positions
Monthly Estimates of U.S. Cross-border Securities Positions

Author: Carol C. Bertaut

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 60

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"This paper reports monthly estimates of U.S. cross-border securities positions obtained by combining the (now) annual TIC surveys with monthly transactions data adjusted for various differences in the two reporting standards. Our approach is similar to that of Thomas, Warnock, and Wongswan (2004), but in addition to having a somewhat larger dataset we are able to make some simplifications to the numerical procedure used and we incorporate additional adjustments to the transactions data. This paper describes the procedure used and presents the monthly results. In addition, we discuss how the procedure can be extended to extrapolate holdings estimates beyond the most recent survey values. We focus primarily on U.S. liabilities to foreign holders, because more data is available than for U.S. claims, but we show how our methodology can be applied to U.S. claims as well. We also provide some guidance on how the changes in estimated holdings can be decomposed into flows, valuation changes, and other factors. Time series of estimates of holdings, by country, are available for download"--Federal Reserve Board web site.

The Transmission of Domestic Shocks in the Open Economy
The Transmission of Domestic Shocks in the Open Economy

Author: Christopher J. Erceg

Publisher:

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 80

ISBN-13:

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This paper uses an open economy DSGE model to explore how trade openness affects the transmission of domestic shocks. For some calibrations, closed and open economies appear dramatically different, reminiscent of the implications of Mundell-Fleming style models. However, we argue such stark differences hinge on calibrations that impose an implausibly high trade price elasticity and Frisch elasticity of labor supply. Overall, our results suggest that the main effects of openness are on the composition of expenditure, and on the wedge between consumer and domestic prices, rather than on the response of aggregate output and domestic prices.