Three Essays on Fiscal and Monetary Policy

This dissertation is a collection of essays encompassing macro and monetary economics. Together, they seek to understand how fiscal and monetary policies can better facilitate trade, stimulate demand, and reduce the volatility of macroeconomic aggregates in response to economic shocks. My first chapter studies the optimal maturity structure of government debt in response to demographic shocks. My second chapter compares the quantitative performance of a gold standard to other popular central bank policies. My third chapter examines how various monetary policies conducted by a central bank impact the debt-financed fiscal multiplier.