Ivan Jaccard

Asset Pricing, Habit Memory, and the Labor Market

The main contribution of this study is to develop a dynamic general equilibrium model linking financial markets to the real economy. In search of a unified framework, this study finds that a model with internal habit memory is able to generate asset pricing and business cycle predictions that are strongly supported by the data. In comparison to solutions present in the literature, the equity premium puzzle can be resolved in a model also able to explain the dynamics of hours worked and real wages. In addition, the proposed mechanism avoids the generation of excessive risk-free rate variations and amplifies the effects of technology shocks.

House Prices, Real Estate Returns, and the Business Cycle

The main objective of this work is to develop a general equilibrium business cycle model linking financial and real estate markets to the macroeconomy. The ability of a production economy to account simultaneously for asset pricing, business cycle and real estate market facts is then evaluated by comparing the model predictions to the empirical facts. The observed high volatility of house prices, the equity premium and the difference between equity and real estate excess returns can be explained without giving rise to excessive risk-free rate variation.

Welfare and Bond Pricing Implications of Fiscal Stabilization Policies

How do cyclical fiscal stabilisation policies affect welfare and government bond risk premia? Using a new Keynesian model we find that the effects of fiscal policy rules on the bond premium and welfare crucially depend on the source of business cycle fluctuations. The overall effect is estimated using Bayesian methods and the mechanism is deconstructed by examining the propagation mechanism of the different shocks. We find that the impact of fiscal policy cyclicality on welfare and risk premia is highly non-linear and that these effects are of a policy relevant magnitude. Finally, we find that the welfare cost of highly procyclical fiscal policies are very large, but also excessive fiscal stabilization can generate non-negligible welfare losses.

Strategic Asset Allocation, Asset Price Dynamics, and the Business Cycle

The main contribution of this work is to provide a dynamic general equilibrium model of asset allocation, allowing to reconcile economic theory with several puzzling contradictions recently pointed out in the literature: (i) the asset allocation puzzle, (ii) the observed timevariation in aggregate portfolio holdings and (iii) the occurrence of twin peaks in equity and house prices. In this approach, compared to the existing literature, the main difference stems from the fact that, in addition to consumption and dividends, both prices and portfolio decisions are allowed to be endogenously determined within a general equilibrium framework. Secondly, real estate is introduced into the analysis, labor supply is allowed to be endogenously determined and macroeconomic shocks are the main source of riskiness.