Learning and the Value of the Firm

The paper studies under what conditions the value of the firm occasionally increases for a while before it suddenly drops, like a "bubble". We consider the environment where the trend of net cash flow from a firm's production depends on uncertain quality of a manager, and the manager is occasionally replaced by a new manager. People know whether the manager is replaced, but they do not know the exact quality of the manager so that they gradually learn about it. We show that, if the current manager is good, the value of the firm tends to increase more rapidly than the net cash flow because people become more and more optimistic about the current manager, until the optimism disappears with sudden retire of the manager. The value of the firms appears to contain a bubble because the value gradually deviates from the present value of the current net cash flow until the deviation disappears. We extend the basic model to allow the firm to replace unsuccessful managers endogenously, and show that the value of the firm more frequently deviates upward from the present value of the current net cash flow than downward.

A model of job and worker flows

We develop a model of gross job and worker flows and use it to study how the wages, permanent incomes, and employment status of individual workers evolve over time. Our model helps explain various features of labor markets, such as the amount of worker turnover in excess of job reallocation, the length of job tenures and unemployment duration, and the size and persistence of the changes in income that workers experience due to displacements or job-to-job transitions. We also examine the effects that labor market institutions and public policy have on the gross flows, as well as on the resulting wage distribution and employment in the equilibrium. From a theoretical standpoint, we propose a notion of competitive equilibrium for random matching environments, and study the extent to which it achieves an efficient allocation of resources.Labor market ; Labor turnover ; Labor mobility

A Model of Job and Worker Flows

We develop a model of gross job and worker flows and use it to study how the wages, permanent incomes and employment status of individual workers evolve over time and how they are affected by aggregate labor market conditions. Our model helps explain various other features of labor markets, such as the size and persistence of the changes in income that workers experience due to displacements or job-to-job transitions, the length of job tenures and unemployment duration, and the amount of worker turnover in excess of job reallocation. We also examine the effects that labor market institutions and public policy have on the gross flows, as well as on the resulting wage distribution, employment and aggregate output in the equilibrium. From a theoretical point of view, we study the extent to which the competitive equilibrium achieves an efficient allocation of resources.

Land Prices and Business Fixed Investments in Japan

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.

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

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.

Adjusting to Capital Account Liberalization

We study theoretically how the adjustment to liberalization of international financial transaction depends upon the degree of domestic financial development. Using a model with domestic and international borrowing constraints, we show that, when the domestic financial system is underdeveloped, capital account liberalization is not necessarily beneficial because TFP stagnates in the long-run or employment decreases in the short-run. Government policy, including allowing foreign direct investment, can mitigate the possible loss of employment, but cannot eliminate it unless the domestic financial system is improved.credit frictions, capital account liberalization

Winners and Losers in Housing Markets

This paper is a quantitatively-oriented theoretical study into the interaction between housing prices, aggregate production, and household behaviour 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 structures. We find that, in an economy where the share of land in the value of structures is large, housing prices react more to an exogenous change in expected productivity or the world interest rate, causing large redistribution effects between net buyers and net sellers of houses. Changing the financing constraint, however, has limited effects on housing prices.Real estates, Land, Housing Prices, Life cycle, Collateral constraints.

Winners and Losers in House Markets

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.Real estates, land, housing prices, life cycle, collateral constraints