Climatic niche and neutral genetic diversity of the six Iberian pine species: a retrospective and prospective view

Quaternary climatic fluctuations have left contrasting historical footprints on the neutral genetic diversity patterns of existing populations of different tree species. We should expect the demography, and consequently the neutral genetic structure, of taxa less tolerant to particular climatic extremes to be more sensitive to long-term climate fluctuations. We explore this hypothesis here by sampling all six pine species found in the Iberian Peninsula (2464 individuals, 105 populations), using a common set of chloroplast microsatellite markers, and by looking at the association between neutral genetic diversity and species-specific climatic requirements. We found large variation in neutral genetic diversity and structure among Iberian pines, with cold-enduring mountain species (Pinus uncinata, P. sylvestris and P. nigra) showing substantially greater diversity than thermophilous taxa (P. pinea and P. halepensis). Within species, we observed a significant positive correlation between population genetic diversity and summer precipitation for some of the mountain pines. The observed pattern is consistent with the hypotheses that: (i) more thermophilous species have been subjected to stronger demographic fluctuations in the past, as a consequence of their maladaptation to recurrent glacial cold stages; and (ii) altitudinal migrations have allowed the maintenance of large effective population sizes and genetic variation in cold-tolerant species, especially in more humid regions. In the light of these results and hypotheses, we discuss some potential genetic consequences of impending climate change

The Effects of Heterogeneity in Price Setting on Price and Inflation Inertia

This paper has been replaced by a newer version.heterogeneity, price-setting, inflation persistence

The Effects of Heterogeneity in Price Setting on Price and Inflation Inertia

This paper analyzes the implications of heterogeneity in price setting for the real effects of monetary shocks. Starting from otherwise standard sticky price and sticky information models, I introduce ex-ante heterogeneity in terms of price setting frictions, and compare the resulting dynamics with those of identical firms economies under alternative calibrations. Both the qualitative and the quantitative results show that heterogeneity leads monetary shocks to have substantially larger and more persistent real effects. In particular, reproducing the dynamics of a truly heterogeneous economy with a model based on identical firms requires unrealistically large degrees of price setting frictions.Heterogeneity, Price-setting, Inflation Inertia

Imperfectly Credible Disinflation under Endogenous Time-Dependent Pricing

The real effects of an imperfectly credible disinflation depend critically on the extent of price rigidity. Therefore, the study of how the policymaker's credibility affects the outcome of an announced disinflation should not be dissociated from the analysis of the determinants of the frequency of price adjustments. In this paper we examine the output effects of an imperfectly credible monetary disinflation in a model with endogenous time-dependent pricing rules. We take as the base case a disinflation policy with a constant degree of credibility, and show that the interaction between the endogeneity of time-dependent rules and imperfect credibility increases the output costs of disinflation. We also study the case in which the monetary authority gains credibility during the disinflation as agents update their beliefs.

On infinitely cohomologous to zero observables

We show that for a large class of piecewise expanding maps T, the bounded p-variation observables u_0 that admits an infinite sequence of bounded p-variation observables u_i satisfying u_i(x)= u_{i+1}(Tx) -u_{i+1}(x) are constant. The method of the proof consists in to find a suitable Hilbert basis for L^2(hm), where hm is the unique absolutely continuous invariant probability of T. In terms of this basis, the action of the Perron-Frobenious and the Koopan operator on L^2(hm) can be easily understood. This result generalizes earlier results by Bamon, Kiwi, Rivera-Letelier and Urzua in the case T(x)= n x mod 1, n in N-{0,1} and Lipchitizian observables u_0.Comment: 24 pages. We included new results by A. Avila. He kindly agreed to include them in this new version. We also fixed some typo

Endogenous Time-Dependent Rules and the Costs of Disinflation with Imperfect Credibility

The real effects of an imperfectly credible disinflation depend critically on the extent of price rigidity. Therefore, the study of how the policymaker's credibility affects the outcome of an announced disinflation should not be dissociated from the analysis of the determinants of the frequency of price adjustments. In this paper we examine the output effects of an imperfectly credible monetary disinflation in a model with endogenous time-dependent pricing rules. We take as the base case a disinflation policy with a constant degree of credibility, and show that the interaction between the endogeneity of time-dependent rules and imperfect credibility increases the output costs of disinflation. We also study the case in which the monetary authority gains credibility during the disinflation as agents update their beliefs.

Myopic Loss Aversion, Asymmetric Correlations, and the Home Bias

Myopic loss aversion has been used to explain why a high equity premium might be consistent with plausible levels of risk aversion. The intuition is that it plays the role of high risk aversion in portfolio choice. But if so, should these agents not perceive larger gains from international diversification than standard preference agents with realistic levels of risk aversion? They might not because stock market returns are asymmetrically correlated. We analyze the portfolio problem of a myopic loss averse investor who has to choose between home and foreign equities in the presence of asymmetrically correlated returns. Perhaps surprisingly, depending on the horizon, this investor behaves similarly to one with standard preferences in the context of the home bias puzzlemyopic loss aversion, home bias, asymmetric correlations, equity premium puzzle

Endogenous Time-Dependent Rules and the Costs of Disinflation with Imperfect Credibility

The real effects of an imperfectly credible disinflation depend critically on the extent of price rigidity. Therefore, the study of how the policymaker's credibility affects the outcome of an announced disinflation should not be dissociated from the analysis of the determinants of the frequency of price adjustments. In this paper we examine the output effects of an imperfectly credible monetary disinflation in a model with endogenous time-dependent pricing rules. We take as the base case a disinflation policy with a constant degree of credibility, and show that the interaction between the endogeneity of time-dependent rules and imperfect credibility increases the output costs of disinflation. We also study the case in which the monetary authority gains credibility during the disinflation as agents update their beliefs.