Browsing by Author "Faustino, Rui Alexandre Rodrigues Veloso"
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- Essays in macroeconomicsPublication . Faustino, Rui Alexandre Rodrigues Veloso; Costa, Luís F.This thesis has as its object of study the way consumer preferences affect structure and market power, measured through the markups of the firms that compete in it. By modifying the way consumer preferences are defined, it is possible to generate endogenous markups that significantly alter the responses of macroeconomic variables generated by different shocks. The thesis consists of three essays, the first of which analyzes the dynamics of markups in durable and nondurable consumption over the economic cycle and their response to shocks. For this, I take a New Keynesian model with durable goods and modified to include the habit formation at both types of goods. Depending on how the habit formation over durable consumption is defined, the model is able to replicate the responses of consumption variables, markups and prices observed in the data.The second essay deals with the effort made by consumers to compare prices between various sellers over the economic cycle. From microdata for the US, it is shown that increases in individuals’ hourly compensation translate into reductions in time spent comparing prices. From this, a mechanism is presented to generate countercyclical responses of the time spent in price comparison by consumers. When incorporated into general equilibrium models, this mechanism is capable of generating an amplifying effect on the responses of the main macroeconomic variables. Finally, a general equilibrium model is presented where the number of firms, varieties and quality of the consumed products are determined endogenously. Through the model, it is possible to analyze the dynamics of product creation and destruction, as well as the changes in their quality during the economic cycle, and their impact on the dynamics of the main macroeconomic variables.