This thesis aims to study macroeconomic issues related to the dynamics, distribution and price of macroeconomic risks.The first chapter examines the effectiveness of different monetary policies in stabilizing asset prices in times of liquidity crisis. We propose a macro-finance model with heterogeneous banks subject to funding liquidity risk. When banks' equity capital is low, an endogenous haircut spiral emerges between the decline in asset prices and financing risks. The central bank can partially counter this dynamic with monetary policies. If the shadow banking sector is important, a large-scale asset purchase policy may be necessary to stabilize asset prices.The second chapter asks the question: how does productivity growth interact with financial cycles? In the years following the Great Recession, the diffusion of new innovations was particularly low, leading to low productivity growth. This work shows that this pattern can be rationalized in a standard macro-financial model with heterogeneous risk aversion when it is assumed that the implementation of new innovations is risky.In the third chapter, we propose a robust method for solving a large class of continuous-time dynamic general equilibrium models. We use a finite difference scheme to solve partial differential equation systems with multiple endogenous state variables in a short computation time.

This volume focuses on current issues of debate in the area of modern macroeconomics and money, written from (a broadly interpreted) post Keynesian perspective. The papers connect with Philip Arestis' contributions to macroeconomics and money, and pay tribute to his distinguished career.

Axel Leijonhufvud has made a unique contribution to the development of macroeconomic theory. This volume draws together his insightful essays dealing with the extremes of economic instability: great depressions, high inflation and the transition from socialism to a market economy. In several of the papers, Leijonhufvud brings a neo-institutionalist perspective to the problems of coordination in economic systems. The papers within Macroeconomic Instability and Coordination some of them already considered classics, deal with the questions that dominated Leijonhufvud's interest throughout his career as an economist: what are the limits to an economy's capacity to coordinate the activities of its members? How does the behavior of the system change under extreme conditions? In what ways does its performance depend upon the institutions that govern the market process?

This collection of papers on financial instability and its impact on macroeconomic performance honours Hyman P. Minsky and his lifelong work. It is based on a conference at Washington University, St. Louis, in 1990 and includes among the authors Benjamin M. Friedman, Charles P. Kindleberger, Jan Kregel and Steven Fazzari. These papers consider Minsky's definitive analysis that yields such a clear and disturbing sequence of financial events: booms, government intervention to prevent debt contraction and new booms that cause a progressive buildup of new debt, eventually leaving the economy much more fragile financially.

In the first Chapter of this dissertation, I develop a novel dynamic general equilibrium model of banking panics (multiple equilibria) and I analyze the effects of monetary injections during a financial crisis. In the second Chapter, I provide an Irrelevance Proposition that identifies the paths of money supply that are consistent with zero nominal interest rates in a large class of monetary models, with implications for monetary policy at the zero lower bound and for the analysis of the Friedman rule. The last Chapter (joint with Balazs Szentes) derives a utility representation of the evolutionary optimal behavior when a population faces choices over lotteries which determine the number of offspring and involve both idiosyncratic and aggregate risks.

Recently, students and scholars have expressed dissatisfaction with the current state of economics and have called for the reintroduction of historical perspectives into economic thinking. Supporting the idea that fruitful lessons can be drawn from the work of past economists, this volume brings together an international cross section of leading economists and historians of economic thought to reflect on the crucial role that money, crises and finance play in the economy. The book draws on the work of economists throughout history to consider afresh themes such as financial and real explanations of economic crises, the role of central banks, and the design of macroeconomic policies. These themes are all central to the work of Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, and the contributions both reflect on and further her research agenda. This book will be of interest to researchers in the history of economic thought, and those who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the variety and diversity in approaches to economic ideas throughout history.

Monetary History, Exchange Rates and Financial Markets is an impressive collection of original papers in honour of Charles Goodhart's outstanding contribution to monetary economics and policy. Charles Goodhart has written extensively on many of these topics and has become synonymous with his field; the chapters within this book offer a summary of current thinking on his own research subjects and include perspectives on controversies surrounding them.