Examines ways of measuring the impact of community and institutional variables on individual fertility.

ILO pub-wep pub. Working paper focusing on issues of survey and sample design with regard to internal migration data collecting in developing countries - covers methodology, questionnaire characteristics, choice of respondent, sampling frames and clusters, tracing techniques, etc., Presents case...

ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper on the need for community local level data collecting in surveys of internal migration in developing countries - outlines reasons to use community variables and issues in model formulations, presents comparison of community definitions, and describes types of...

ILO pub-wep pub. Working paper on the need for community local level data collecting in surveys of internal migration in developing countries - outlines reasons to use community variables and issues in model formulations, presents comparison of community definitions, and describes types of...

The relatively infrequent nature of major credit distress events makes a historical approach particularly useful. Using a combination of historical narrative and econometric techniques, we identify major periods of credit distress from 1875 to 2007, examine the extent to which credit distress...

Do steep recoveries follow deep recessions? Does it matter if a credit crunch or banking panic accompanies the recession? Moreover, does it matter if the recession is associated with a housing bust? We look at the American historical experience in an attempt to answer these questions. The...

This paper brings historical evidence to bear on the stylized fact that the yield curve predicts future growth. The spread between corporate bonds and commercial paper reliably predicts future growth over the period 1875-1997. This predictability varies over time, however, particularly across...

Considering time inconsistency as a problem of irreversible investment brings some neglected points to the fore. Making a policy choice in real time and under current conditions emphasizes the importance of the timing of commitment, the regret over past decisions, and the option value of not...

An examination of the dynamics of commitment, showing that because the decision regarding rules versus discretion occurs in real time, opting for discretion is often the better choice, since it leaves open the possibility of adopting rules later on.