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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the factor of emotional intelligence (EI) into the calculus of neoclassical analysis under precautionary saving aiming at stabilizing consumption in the case of an exogenous output shock. Design/methodology/approach The introduction of EI differentiates individual firms in handling production uncertainty and individual consumers in coping with consumption uncertainty, but the source of uncertainty is exogenous and affects all the same; there are no idiosyncratic risks and uncertainties. This in conjunction with the median-voter-theory like approach to agent heterogeneity prompted by EI, replicates the result that aggregates quantitative predictions are almost indistinguishable from their representative agent counterpart in life cycle models of precautionary saving. Findings EI corroborates stabilization greatly but only the introduction of a monetary authority would fully stabilize the system by injecting or withdrawing money depending on the state of the economy. Money becomes centrally issued and it would be destabilizing if it was accompanied by central and/or commercial bank seigniorage. Median EI is found to coincide with homo economicus' rationality. These results point to the importance of preserving the institutional character of capitalism as a free enterprise but also a competitive system under a government in the service of the private sector. Originality/value Methodologically, this paper acknowledges the mutual interdependence between human action and social structure in the liberal setting in which free enterprise is a socioeconomic process that identifies value through exchange under the sociopolitical process of democracy.

Using a two-stage Cournot game with economies of scope, we examine the effects of monetary policy on the optimal bank behavior. Emphasis is on the way the interest rate spread is influenced by the minimum reserve requirements. It is demonstrated that the sign of this effect depends on the kind of economies of scope. Moreover, monetary policy implications for both the depositor's and borrower's behaviors are presented. Assuming an overlapping generation context, we prove that minimum reserve requirements affect the optimal levels of bank-client consumption through the corresponding equilibrium interest rates.

This paper presents a discrete time version of Hillinger's (1992Hillinger's ( , 2005) second order accelerator model that investigates the dynamic behavior of capital, for pedagogical purposes. Such a version is put forward as a means of improving student acquaintance with the analysis of investment cycles -defined as quasi-periodic cyclic movements of these variables-and with the convergence towards the steady-state when capital is subjected to trigonometric oscillations. In addition, we extend the analysis, introducing the exogenous interest rate on loans in the behavioral equation of investors. It is inferred that the introduction of this credit term results in a lower equilibrium level of capital.