The chair of ordinary professor Hugonnier

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Heterogeneity in decentralized asset markets

Julien Hugonnier

We study a canonical model of decentralized exchange for a durable good or asset, where agents are assumed to have time-varying, heterogeneous utility types. Whereas the existing literature has focused on the special case of two types, we allow agents' utility to be drawn from an arbitrary distribution. Our main contribution is methodological: we provide a solution technique that delivers a complete characterization of the equilibrium, in closed form, both in and out of the steady state. This characterization offers a richer framework for confronting data from real-world markets and reveals a number of new economic insights. In particular, we show that heterogeneity magnifies the impact of frictions on equilibrium outcomes and that this impact is more pronounced on price levels than on price dispersion and welfare.

ECONOMETRIC SOCIETY2022

Asset Pricing and Monetary Policy

Nicolas Gauderon

Classical theory asserts that the formation of prices is the result of aggregated decisions ofeconomics agent such as households or corporation. However central banks are very importantagents that have often been neglected in asset pricing models. Central banks decisions ormonetary policy indeed appears to be a first order determinant of prices.This thesis aims to develop an asset pricing model that explicitly incorporates a central bankand to analyze the determination of monetary policy and its impact on financial markets. Myresults should help to improve our understanding of asset prices in the context of a monetaryeconomy. Therefore results should help both to improve portfolio management in presenceof an active monetary policy and to give central bankers a better understanding of their ownmarket impact thus helping them to design better monetary policy.

EPFL2022

Frictional Intermediation in Over-the-Counter Markets

Julien Hugonnier

We extend Duffie et al.'s (2005) search-theoretic model of over-the-counter (OTC) asset markets, allowing for a decentralized inter-dealer market with arbitrary heterogeneity in dealers' valuations (or, equivalently, inventory costs). We develop a solution technique that makes the model fully tractable and allows us to derive, in closed form, theoretical formulas for key statistics analysed in empirical studies of the intermediation process in OTC markets. A calibration to the market for municipal bonds allows us to quantify important unobservable characteristics of this market, including the severity of search and bargaining frictions and the nature of heterogeneity across dealers. We use our calibrated model to study the effect of these market characteristics on total welfare and the distribution of gains from trade across customers and dealers.

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2020