Bank Competition, Agency Costs and the Performance of the Monetary Policy

This paper extends the general equilibrium literature on bank competition in order to evaluate its role on the performance of the monetary policy. A new formulation of a financial contract taking into consideration both market power by banks as well as costly state verification is proposed here. Numerical simulations with the model economy parameterized to the Brazilian case are performed. Two cases are examined: One in which the banking sector is perfectly competitive and the other one when banks have market power. The main conclusions of the paper are the following: (1) Greater competition in the loan market enhances the response of the real economy to an interest rate shock; (2) Increased competition and/or a more efficient verification technology reduce the reaction of both the default rate and of the bank interest spread to an interest rate shock; and (3) The influence of the verification technology in the economy's dynamic response is greater when banks operate under perfect competition.

Real Balances in the Utility Function: Evidence for Brazil

The aim of this paper is to examine the relevance of a money-in-the-utility-function model for the Brazilian economy. In addition to consumption, the household is supposed to derive utility from leisure and from the holdings of real balances. The system, formed by the first-order conditions of the household intertemporal problem (Euler equations), is estimated by generalized method of moments (GMM). The results show strong support for the presence of money in the utility function for Brazil.

Achillea filipendulina Lam. nueva para Andalucía, más algunas observaciones sobre las Achillea andaluzas.

La preparación de la síntesis de Achillea L. para Flora Iberica ha llevado a examinar algunas cuestiones críticas en relación con la flora de Andalucía oriental (Blanca, 2011). Para ello, se ha revisado la información bibliográfica disponible, así como los materiales de herbario de referencia; se ha contado asimismo con la colaboración del autor de la síntesis de dicha obra. Como resultado, se plantea la adición al catálogo de la flora andaluza de una nueva especie alóctona, Achillea filipendulina Lam., así como la exclusión de A. ligustica All., a la que se habían atribuido inicialmente algunos ejemplares de A. millefolium [...]