Sayantan Ghosal

Non-existence of competitive equilibria with dynamically inconsistent preferences (2009)

Gabrieli, Tommaso, Ghosal, Sayantan

This paper shows the robust non existence of competitive equilibria even in a simple three period representative agent economy with dynamically inconsistent preferences. We distinguish between a...

Does strengthening Collective Action Clauses (CACs) help? (2009)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Thampanishvong, Kannika

In a model with both issues of sovereign debtor moral hazard and creditor coordination under incomplete information, we show that the resulting conflict between ex ante and interim efficiency limits...

Technology, Unilateral Commitments and Cumulative Emissions Reduction (2009)

Chatterji, Shurojit, Ghosal, Sayantan

In this article, we argue that weak property rights over transnational pollution and the limited threat of retaliatory punishments blunts the effectiveness of a broad-based multilateral agreement to...

Noncooperative oligopoly in markets with a continuum of traders (2008)

Busetto, Francesca, Codognato, Giulio, Ghosal, Sayantan

In this paper, we study three prototypical models of noncooperative oligopoly in markets with a continuum of traders : the model of Cournot-Walras equilibrium of Codognato and Gabszewicz (1991), the...

Commercialisation, factor prices and technological progress in the transition to modern economic growth (2008)

Broadberry, S. N., Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

We provide a model of the links between commercialisation and technological progress, which is consistent with the historical evidence and places market relations at the heart of the industrial...

Democracy, collective action and intra-elite conflict (2008)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

This paper studies the conditions under which intra-elite conflict leads to a democracy. There are two risk averse elites competing for the appropriation of a unit of social surplus, with an ex-ante...

Moral hazard, bank runs and contagion (2008)

Chatterji, Shurojit, Ghosal, Sayantan

We study banking with ex ante moral hazard. Resolving the misalignment of the incentives between banks and depositors requires early liquidation with positive probability : efficient risk-sharing...

Behavioural decisions and welfare (2008)

Dalton, Patricio Santiago, Ghosal, Sayantan

We study decision problems where (a) preference parameters are de.ned to include psychological/moral considerations and (b) there is a feedback effect from chosen actions to preference parameters. In...

Cournot-Walras equilibrium as a subgame perfect equilibrium (2008)

Busetto, Francesca, Codognato, Giulio, Ghosal, Sayantan

In this paper, we investigate the problem of the strategic foundation of the Cournot-Walras equilibrium approach. To this end, we respecify à la Cournot-Walras the mixed version of a model of...

The transition to democracy: collective action and intra-elite confict (2007)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

This paper studies how intra-elite confict results in transition to democracy, characterized as both franchise extension to, and lowering the individual cost of collective political action for, an...

Enfranchisement, intra-elite conflict and bargaining (2006)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

Does power sharing between competing elites result in franchise extension to non-elites? In this paper, we argue that competing, risk-averse elites will enfranchise non-elites as insurance against...

Bargaining and sustainability: the Argentine debt swap of 2005 (2006)

Dhillon, Amrita, García Fronti, Javier I., Ghosal, Sayantan

When Argentine sovereign default in December 2001 led to a collapse of the peso, the burden of dollar debt became demonstrably unsustainable. But it was not clear what restructuring was feasible, nor...

Bargaining and sustainability: the Argentine debt swap of 2005 (2005)

Dhillon, Amrita, García Fronti, Javier I., Ghosal, Sayantan

When Argentine sovereign default in December 2001 led to a collapse of the peso, the burden of dollar debt became demonstrably unsustainable. But it was not clear what restructuring was feasible, nor...

Sovereign debt crisis: coordination, bargaining and moral hazard (2005)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Thampanishvong, Kannika

We study the interaction between (a) inefficiencies in the post-default debtor-creditor bargaining game and (b) ex ante debtor moral hazard and excessive lending in sovereign debt markets....

Technology, organisation and productivity performance in services: lessons from Britain and the United States since 1870 (2005)

Broadberry, Stephen, Ghosal, Sayantan

This paper documents the comparative productivity performance of the United States and Britain since 1870, showing the importance of developments in services. We identify the transition in market...

Co-ordination failure, moral hazard and sovereign bankruptcy procedures (2003)

Ghosal, Sayantan

We study a model of sovereign debt crisis that combines problems of creditor co-ordination and debtor moral hazard. Solving the sovereign debtor’s incentives leads to excessive ‘rollover...

Coordination failure, moral hazard and sovereign bankruptcy procedures (2003)

Ghosal, Sayantan

We study a model of sovereign debt crisis that combines problems of creditor co-ordination and debtor moral hazard. Solving the sovereign debtor’s incentives leads to excessive ‘rollover...

Information aggregation, costly voting and common values (2003)

Ghosal, Sayantan, Lockwood, Ben

In a model of majority voting with common values and costly but voluntary participation, we show that in the vicinity of equilibrium, it is always Pareto-improving for more agents, on the average, to...

Farsighted Network Formation (2003)

Bhaskar Dutta, Sayantan Ghosal, Debraj Ray

This paper studies a model of dynamic network formation when individuals are farsighted: players evaluate the desirability of a “current " move in terms of its consequences on the entire...

Bank runs and noisy signals (2001)

Boonprakaikawe, Juntip, Ghosal, Sayantan

We show that even with noisy signals on the quality of a bank's assets multiple equilibria exist in models of banking. We argue that the conditions under which this happens arise naturally in models...

Bargaining and Sustainability: The Argentine Debt Swap of 2005

Dhillon, Amrita, García-Fronti, Javier, Ghosal, Sayantan, Miller, Marcus

When Argentine sovereign default in December 2001 led to a collapse of the peso, the burden of dollar debt became demonstrably unsustainable. But it was not clear what restructuring was feasible, nor...

INFORMATION AGGREGATION, COSTLY VOTING AND COMMON VALUES

Ghosal, Sayantan, Lockwood, Ben

In a model of majority voting with common values and costly but voluntary participation, we show that in the vicinity of equilibrium, it is always Pareto-improving for more agents, on the average, to...

Optimal Sovereign Debt Write-downs

Sayantan Ghosal, Kannika Thampanishvong

At present, the enhanced HIPC initiative and the Gleneagles Proposal for debt write-downs by the G8 are the main mechanisms used to reduce indebtedness of low-income countries. In these countries...

Does Strengthening Collective Action Clauses (CACs) Help?

Sayantan Ghosal, Kannika Thampanishvong

We study the effect of strengthening CACs in a debt rollover model of a sovereign debt crisis. Conditional on default, there are multiple equilibria: the impact of strengthening CACs depends...

The Millenium Development Goals and Sovereign Debt Write-downs

Sayantan Ghosal, Kannika Thampanishvong

Can sovereign debt write-downs be used to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)? This paper shows that transparency of domestic governance determines how a sovereign debt write-down is...

Retrading in Market Games

Sayantan Ghosal, Massimo Morelli

When agents are not price takers, they typically cannot obtain an efficient reallocation of resources in one round of trade. This paper presents a noncooperative model of imperfect competition where...

Co-ordination Failure, Moral Hazard and Sovereign Bankruptcy Procedures

Sayantan Ghosal, Marcus Miller

We study a model of sovereign debt crisis that combines problems of creditor co-ordination and debtor moral hazard. In the face of sovereign default, the need to give appropriate incentives to the...

Technology, Organisation and Productivity Performance in Services: Lessons from Britain and the United States, 1870-1990

Broadberry, Stephen, Sayantan Ghosal

We document comparative productivity performance since 1870, showing the importance of services for US overtaking of Britain. The transition in market services from customised, low-volume,...

From the Counting House to the Modern Office: Explaining Anglo-American Productivity Differences in Services, 1870 1990

Broadberry, Stephen, Ghosal, Sayantan

The United States overtook Britain in comparative aggregate productivity levels primarily as a result of trends in services rather than trends in industry. This occurred during the transition from...

Why did (not) the East Extend the Franchise? Democracy, Intra-Elite Conflict and Risk Sharing

Sayantan Ghosal, Eugenio Proto

The process of enfranchisement is studied in a model of intra-elite conflict over the sharing of social surplus. The relative bargaining power of each elite, function of the surplus each elite is...

Debt Restructuring and Economic Recovery: Analysing the Argentine Swap

Amrita Dhillon, Javier García-Fronti, Sayantan Ghosal, Marcus Miller

When Argentine sovereign default in December 2001 led to a collapse of the peso, the burden of dollar debt became demonstrably unsustainable. But it was not clear what restructuring was feasible, nor...

Technology, Organization and Productivity in Services: Lessons from Britain and the United States Since 1870

Broadberry, Stephen N, Ghosal, Sayantan

This Paper first documents the comparative productivity performance of the United States and Britain since 1870, showing the importance of developments in services. We identify the transition in...

Farsighted Network Formation

Bhaskar Dutta, Sayantan Ghosal, Debraj Ray

This paper studies a model of dynamic network formation when individuals are farsighted : players evaluate the desirability of a “current” move in terms of its consequences on the entire...

Coordination Failure, Moral Hazard and Sovereign Bankruptcy Procedures

Ghosal, Sayantan, Miller, Marcus

We study a model of sovereign debt crisis that combines problems of creditor co-ordination and debtor moral hazard. Solving the sovereign debtor’s incentives leads to excessive ‘rollover...

original papers : Buyers' and sellers' cartels on markets with indivisible goods

Francis Bloch, Sayantan Ghosal

This paper analyzes the formation of cartels of buyers and sellers in a simple model of trade inspired by Rubinstein and Wolinsky's (1990) bargaining model. When cartels are formed only on one side...

Enfranchisement, Intra-Elite Conflict and Bargaining

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

Does power sharing between competing elites result in franchise extension to non-elites? In this paper, we argue that competing, risk-averse elites will enfranchise non-elites as in-surance against...

The Transition to Democracy : Collective Action and Intra-elite Confict

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

This paper studies how intra-elite confict results in transition to democracy, characterized as both franchise extension to, and lowering the individual cost of collective political action for, an...

Behavioural Decisions and Welfare

Dalton, Patricio, Ghosal, Sayantan

We study decision problems where (a) preference parameters are defined to include psychological/moral considerations and (b) there is a feedback effect from chosen actions to preference parameters....

Moral hazard, bank runs and contagion

Ghosal, Sayantan, Chatterji, Shurojit

We study banking with ex ante moral hazard. Resolving the misalignment of the incentives between banks and depositors requires early liquidation with positive probability : efficient risk-sharing...

Cournot-Walras Equilibrium as a Subgame Perfect Equilibrium

Busetto, Francesca, Codognato, Giulio, Ghosal, Sayantan

In this paper, we investigate the problem of the strategic foundation of the Cournot-Walras equilibrium approach. To this end, we respecify a'la Cournot-Walras the mixed version of a model of...

Democracy, Collective Action and Intra-elite Conflict

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

This paper studies the conditions under which intra-elite conflict leads to a democracy. There are two risk averse elites competing for the appropriation of a unit of social surplus, with an ex-ante...

Commercialisation, Factor Prices and Technological Progress in the Transition to Modern Economic Growth

Broadberry, Stephen, Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

We provide a model of the links between commercialisation and technological progress, which is consistent with the historical evidence and places market relations at the heart of the industrial...

Noncooperative Oligopoly in Markets with a Continuum of Traders

Busetto, Francesca, Codognato, Giulio, Ghosal, Sayantan

In this paper, we study three prototypical models of noncooperative oligopoly in markets with a continuum of traders : the model of Cournot-Walras equilibrium of Codognato and Gabszewicz (1991), the...

Democracy, Collective Action and Intra-Elite Conflict

Sayantan Ghosal, Eugenio Proto

This paper studies the conditions under which intra-elite conflict leads to a democ- racy. There are two risk averse elites competing for the appropriation of a unit of so- cial surplus, with an...

From the Counting House to the Modern Office: Explaining Anglo-American Productivity Differences in Services, 1870 1990

Broadberry, Stephen, Ghosal, Sayantan

The United States overtook Britain in comparative aggregate productivity levels primarily as a result of trends in services rather than trends in industry. This occurred during the transition from...

Does strengthening Collective Action Clauses (CACs) help?

Ghosal, Sayantan, Thampanishvong, Kannika

In a model with both issues of sovereign debtor moral hazard and creditor coordination under incomplete information, we show that the resulting conflict between ex ante and interim efficiency limits...

Non-Existence of Competitive Equilibria with Dynamically Inconsistent Preferences

Gabrieli, Tommaso, Ghosal, Sayantan

This paper shows the robust non existence of competitive equilibria even in a simple three period representative agent economy with dynamically inconsistent preferences. We distinguish between a...

Technology, Unilateral Commitments and Cumulative Emissions Reduction

Shurojit Chatterji, Sayantan Ghosal

In this article, we argue that weak property rights over transnational pollution and the limited threat of retaliatory punishments blunts the effectiveness of a broad-based multilateral agreement to...

Democracy, collective action and intra-elite conflict

Ghosal, Sayantan, Proto, Eugenio

We analyze a model where there is uncertainty about the future power of two ex-ante symmetric elites to appropriate surplus, and ex-ante surplus sharing agreements are not binding. We show that in an...

Unilateral measures and global emissions mitigation

Chatterji, Shurojit, Ghosal, Sayantan, Walsh, Sean, Whalley, John

In this paper we discuss global climate change mitigation that builds on existing unilateral actions to deliver ever deepening emission cuts over time. A wide array of unilateral environmental...

Unilateral Measures and Emissions Mitigation

Shurojit Chatterji, Sayantan Ghosal, Sean Walsh, John Whalley

We discuss global climate mitigation that builds on existing unilateral measures to cut emissions. We document and discuss the rationale for such unilateral measures argue that such measures have the...