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Can Hearts and Minds Be Bought? The Economics of Counterinsurgency in Iraq

Berman, Eli - 2008

We develop and test an economic theory of insurgency motivated by the informal literature and by recent military doctrine. We model a three-way contest between violent rebels, a government seeking to minimize violence by mixing service provision and coercion, and civilians deciding whether to...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012464041

Bequests as Signals : An Explanation for the Equal Division Puzzle

Bernheim, B. Douglas - 2000

In the United States, more than two-thirds of decedents with multichild families divide their estates exactly equally among their children. In contrast, intra vivos gifts are usually unequal. These findings challenge the validity of existing theories regarding the determination of...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012470959

Fertility, Migration, and Altruism

Berman, Eli - 2000

intergenerational altruism. Thus, immigrants may be self-selected on fertility. Soviet Jews who migrate to Israel despite high migration …. Selection on altruism can explain why historically immigrant-absorbing countries like the U.S. have higher fertility than other …. Selection on altruism also implies that immigrant-absorbing regions will grow faster, or have higher per capita income, or both …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012471230

Candidates, Character, and Corruption

Bernheim, B. Douglas - 2010

along two dimensions of unobservable character: public spirit (altruism toward others) and honesty (the disutility suffered …

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012462127

Fiscal Policy With Impure Intergenerational Altruism

Abel, Andrew B. - 1988

Recent work demonstrates that dynastic assumptions guarantee the irrelevance of all redistributional polices, distortionary taxes, and prices--the neutrality of fiscal policy (Ricardian equivalence) is only the "tip of the iceberg." In this paper, we investigate the possibility of reinstating...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012476455

Intergenerational Altruism and Social Welfare : A Critique of the Dynastic Model

Bernheim, B. Douglas - 1987

In this paper, I show that, under relatively weak conditions, dynastic equilibria are never welfare optima. If a social planner sets policy to maximize a social welfare function, then, except in extreme cases where the planner cares only about a single generation, successive generations will...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012476780

Religion, Terrorism and Public Goods : Testing the Club Model

Berman, Eli - 2008

Can rational choice modeling explain why Hamas, Taliban, Hezbollah and other radical religious rebels are so lethal? The literature rejects theological explanations. We propose a club framework, which emphasizes the function of voluntary religious organizations as efficient providers of local...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012464922

Behavioral Public Economics : Welfare and Policy Analysis with Non-Standard Decision-Makers

Bernheim, B. Douglas - 2005

This paper has two goals. First, we discuss several emerging approaches to applied welfare analysis under non-standard ("behavioral") assumptions concerning consumer choice. This provides a foundation for Behavioral Public Economics. Second, we illustrate applications of these approaches by...

Persistent link: https://www.econbiz.de/10012467161