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Adverse Selection, Risk Sharing and Business Cycles

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  • Marcelo Veracierto

Abstract

I consider a real business cycle model in which agents have private information about an idiosyncratic shock to their value of leisure. I consider the mechanism design problem for this economy and describe a computational method to solve it. This is an important contribution of the paper since the method could be used to solve a wide class of models with heterogeneous agents and aggregate uncertainty. Calibrating the model to U.S. data I find a striking result: That the information frictions that plague the economy have no effects on business cycle fluctuations.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcelo Veracierto, 2014. "Adverse Selection, Risk Sharing and Business Cycles," Working Paper Series WP-2014-10, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedhwp:wp-2014-10
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Stephane Verani, 2018. "Aggregate Consequences of Dynamic Credit Relationships," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 29, pages 44-67, July.
    2. Gokmen, Gunes & Morin, Annaig, 2021. "Investment shocks and inequality dynamics," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 570-579.
    3. Yunmin Chen & YiLi Chien & Michael T. Owyang, 2015. "Individual and Aggregate Constrained Efficient Intertemporal Wedges in Dynamic Mirrleesian Economies," Working Papers 2015-43, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
    4. Stephane Verani, 2018. "Aggregate Consequences of Dynamic Credit Relationships," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 29, pages 44-67, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Adverse selection; risk sharing; business cycles; private information; incentives; optimal contracts; computational methods; heterogeneous agents;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques
    • C68 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computable General Equilibrium Models
    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • D82 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Asymmetric and Private Information; Mechanism Design
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles

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