Knowledge that Transforms

I study the role of firms' balance sheet liquidity in the transmission of monetary policy to investment. I develop a heterogeneous firm macroeconomic model with financial constraints, debt issuance costs, and differential returns on firms' cash and borrowing. The model matches key novel moments from U.S. firm-level data on liquid asset holdings, debt issuance activity, and investment responses to identified monetary shocks. Counterfactual analysis shows that the rise in U.S. firms' liquid asset holdings over recent decades has significantly increased the relevance of balance sheet liquidity and the behavior of liquid asset returns in monetary transmission.

Deforestation for cattle ranching in the Brazilian Amazon emits carbon, and reforestation absorbs carbon. The social productivities for these alternative activities vary across locations. We analyze a spatial/dynamic model of efficient land allocation to establish a benchmark for policies. We treat cattle prices as stochastic and location-specific productivities as uncertain when assessing the consequences of imposing alternative prices of carbon emissions. Modest carbon price increases would incentivize Brazil to choose policies that capture a significant amount of greenhouse gases in the next 30 years. Our analysis pinpoints tropical forest management as an important contributor to climate change mitigation.