We test whether financial fluctuations affect firms' decisions, through their impact on banks' cost of funding. We …-2012 sovereign debt crisis. Using newly available data linking over 3,000, mostly privately-held, non-financial firms to their bank(s …), we find that increases in Italian banks' CDS spreads and decreases in their equity valuations lead younger and smaller …

We document that trust in public institutions – and particularly trust in banks, business and government – has declined …

central problems in public finance, including the optimal structure of health insurance and optimal life cycle savings. In …

technological change along with the increase in the generosity of health insurance may explain independently 53% of the rise in … health spending (insurance 29% and technology 24%) while income less than 10%. By simultaneously occurring over this period … 59% of the rise in life expectancy at age 50 over this period while insurance and income explain less than 10%. …

The consequences of business cycle contingencies in unemployment insurance systems are considered in a search …-matching model allowing for shifts between “good” and “bad” states of nature. We show that not only is there an insurance argument …

This paper analyzes data from a novel field experiment designed to test the impact of two different insurance products … simulated by a lottery. Risk-sharing is possible in solidarity groups of three and insurance is introduced via less risky … insurance if shocks are observable. Depending on insurance design, there is also evidence for persistence of this effect even if …

with no paternal shock. In contrast, there was a negligible insurance response for mothers with no employment protection. …