This paper aims to provide a swift tour of the economic issues presented by vouchers and thus to fill an apparent gap in the literature for a basic survey of the subject. Among the issues it considers are: factors determining a voucher's cash-equivalence; reasons (such as paternalism,...

We investigate the origins of identity and the innate proclivity to draw a distinction between `insiders' and `outsiders'. We propose an evolutionary explanation: we argue that identity arises because it facilitates survival. In an evolutionary setting we endogenize preferences and demonstrate...

This chapter provides a selective review of some contemporary approaches to program evaluation. One motivation for our review is the recent emergence and increasing use of a particular kind of "program" in applied microeconomic research, the so-called Regression Discontinuity (RD) Design of...

This paper discusses in a systematic and comprehensive way the existing literature on the relationship between the growth of countries' economies and various public finance instruments, such as tax policy, expenditure policy, and overall budgetary policy, from the perspectives of allocative...

The U.S. economy faces a fundamental structural and institutional crisis that requires major changes in economic policy and far reaching programs including: a) a federally funded permanent living wage jobs program mostly funded through transactions taxes on finance; b) emergency measures to cap...

Los problemas regionales reciben en España una gran atención, en especial desde que se inició la amplia descentralización política y administrativa contemplada en la Constitución de 1978. En el ámbito económico, los cuatro temas más tratados en los estudios y debates son el crecimiento...

We present a theoretical model of a parliamentary democracy where electoral competition inside coalition governments induces higher spending than under single party governments. Policy preferences of parties are endogenous and derived from opportunistic reelection motives. The electoral rule...

To understand the extent to which partisan majorities in Congress influence economic policy, we compare financial market responses in recent midterm elections to Presidential elections. We use prediction markets that track election outcomes as a means of precisely timing and calibrating the...