Contact Information
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
2211 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208
Phone: 847-767-1054
bornstein@u.northwestern.edu
Personal Website
Curriculum Vitae
Education
Ph.D., Economics, Northwestern University, 2019 (expected)
MA, Economics, Northwestern University, 2015
MA, Economics, Tel Aviv University (joint with Hebrew University), 2009-2013
BA, Economics, Open University of Israel, 2009.
Fields of Specialization
Macroeconomics, International Economics
Job Market Paper
“Entry and Profits in an Aging Economy: The Role of Consumer Inertia”
Download (PDF)
Abstract: Over the past thirty years, the share of young firms in the US has declined while the share of profits in GDP has increased. This paper explores the role of consumer inertia–persistence in households’ consumption choices–as a driver of these twin phenomena. The hypothesis is that more consumer inertia makes it more difficult for entrants to establish a customer base and incentivizes large incumbents to raise markups. First, I use detailed micro data to document that consumer inertia has gone up due to the aging of the US population. Second, I show that there is a negative relation between consumer inertia and firm formation using empirical evidence across product categories and across US states. Finally, I develop a model of entry, exit, and firm dynamics with consumer inertia. I calibrate the model using my micro estimates of consumer inertia and data on firm dynamics. According to the model, the rise in consumer inertia accounts for a substantial proportion of the twin phenomena.
Other Working Papers
“Lags, Costs, and Shocks: An Equilibrium Model of the Oil Industry”, with Per Krusell and Sergio Rebelo
Download (PDF)
Brief abstract: We use a new micro dataset to estimate a stochastic industry-equilibrium model of the oil industry. The estimated model predicts the advent of fracking technology would lead to a large decline in oil price volatility.
“A Continuous Time Model of Sovereign Debt”
Download (PDF)
Brief abstract: I construct a continuous time model of strategic default and provide a numerical algorithm that solves it. The proposed method is faster than discrete time computation methods. The few differences between the discrete and continuous time approaches can all be attributed to the fact that deleveraging is more costly in continuous time.
Publications
“Quantitative Sovereign Default Models and the European Debt Crisis”, with Luigi Bocola and Alessandro Dovis
Journal of International Economics (forthcoming)
Download (PDF)
Brief abstract: We show that if private financial markets are sophisticated, then the relevant state variable for the sovereign is its domestic public debt, and not net external debt. We show that matching the cyclicality of public debt allows the model to better capture empirical features of the European debt crisis.
“Moral Hazard Misconceptions: The Case of the Greenspan Put”, with Guido Lorenzoni
IMF Economic Review, June 2018
Download (PDF)
Brief abstract: We show that policy interventions ex-post do not necessarily create negative side effects in terms of moral hazard ex-ante. In particular, we study ex-post monetary policy interventions and show that they may reduce the need for ex-ante interventions.
Teaching Experience
Graduate Macroeconomics I for Prof. Larry Christiano, Fall 2014 and 2015
Graduate Macroeconomics II for Prof. Marty Eichenbaum and Prof. Guido Lorenzoni, Winter 2015 and 2016
Graduate Macroeconomics III for Prof. Luigi Bocola and Prof. Matthias Doepke, Spring 2015 and 2016
Download Teaching Evaluations (PDF)
References
Prof. Martin Eichenbaum (Committee Co-Chair)
Prof. Guido Lorenzoni (Committee Co-Chair)
Prof. Luigi Bocola
Prof. Per Krusell
Prof. Sergio Rebelo