Quarterly Journal of Economics198297(2), 251open access
This paper investigates the spending and current-account effects of terms-of-trade shifts in a model where households maximize utility over an infinite planning period. In the framework developed here, an economy specialized in production must experience a fall in aggregate spending and a current surplus as a result of an unanticipated, permanent worsening in its terms of trade. The paper's model thus provides a setting in which the current-account deficit predicted by Laursen and Metzier, Harberger, and others fails to materialize.
Journal Article A Note on the Stability Limitations in “A Stable Price Adjustment Process” Get access Conway L. Lackman Conway L. Lackman Administrative Studies, Newark Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 97, Issue 3, August 1982, Pages 541–542, https://doi.org/10.2307/1885877 Published: 01 August 1982
Journal Article Gottfried Haberler: Contributions upon Entering his Ninth Decade Get access Malcolm Gillis Malcolm Gillis Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 97, Issue 1, February 1982, Pages 139–140, https://doi.org/10.2307/1882630 Published: 01 February 1982
This paper presents a closed economy macroeconomic model in which the nominal income of some assets is taxed, whereas that of others is not. The short-run and long-run implications of a change in expected inflation are examined. An increase in the expected rate of inflation shifts the composition of aggregate demand, since asset holders shift their portfolios from the taxed asset (corporate capital) to the untaxed asset (consumer durables). In the long run, this shift implies a stock adjustment decline in capital with a consequent decrease in the rate of growth of productivity over the transition period.
In a competitive environment in which (ex ante) identical sellers set prices, the market price cannot always be based on updated information, since otherwise there will be no incentive to gather information about changes in demand. This result is applied to the case in which changes in the money supply are the only source of uncertainty. It is shown that, if the possible changes in the money supply are not large, the economy will exhibit a positive relationship between money and output but no involuntary unemployment. If the possible changes in the money supply are large, the economy will exhibit a positive relationship between money and employment, allowing for involuntary unemployment.
This paper is concerned with the theory of implicit labor contracts. The implications of introducing hours worked or effort as an argument both in workers' utility functions (in addition to the wage rate) and in firms' production functions (in addition to the number of workers) are considered. It is shown that layoffs can occur at equilibrium in the absence of unemployment compensation and value of leisure, but only because of the inclusion of this additional variable.
Rare is the economist who has made great contributions to the literature in not one but two fields. Gottfried Haberler is a member of that select group of scholars. His pioneering work in international economics is surveyed by Baldwin and Willett; this essay reviews his writings in the area of business cycles and the domestic macroeconomy. The inherent greatness of Prosperity and Depression, Haberler's outstanding work on the business cycle,1 can perhaps best be indicated in tabular form. Table I provides a history of the publication of the work as well as a summary of its contents. Haberler's goal was, first, to present and analyze-and reconcile wherever possible-the existing theories of the business cycle and, second, to derive from these theories a synthetic2 explanation of fluctuations of economic activity. Table II, which presents a summary of the scholarly book reviews of Prosperity and Depression, shows that the greatness of the work was understood from the moment it appeared in print. Haberler subjects every existing explanation of the business cycle-the monetary theory, overinvestment theories, underconsumption theories, psychological and error theories, cost-of-production theories, and even agricultural theories-to a searching analysis under the following scheme: theoretical foundation, explanation of the different phases of the cycle-upswing (prosperity), downswing (depression), and upper and lower turning points (crisis and revival, respectively)-reasons for recurrence and periodicity, and international aspects. Often, the international implications of the theory were not considered by the originators; they are developed by Haberler himself. Haberler shows that many theories explain only part of the cycle (for example, the crisis and downswing) or provide only an exogenous
Journal Article The Optimal Taxation of International Investment Income: Reply Get access Thomas Horst Thomas Horst Taxecon Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 97, Issue 2, May 1982, Page 381, https://doi.org/10.2307/1880766 Published: 01 May 1982
A regulated firm that can make decisions both before and after uncertainty is resolved with respect to input use cannot be led to competitive solutions by regulatory price ceilings. Whether those ceilings are imposed before or after the resolution of uncertainty, they present incentives for undercapitalized production, contrary to usual AJ assertions. Under these conditions the Fair Return objective is neither a sufficient nor an unambiguous regulatory target.