possible for policy purposes? We argue greater use should be made of experiments that identify behavioral mechanisms that are … central to clearly specified policy questions, what we call "mechanism experiments." These types of experiments can be of … great policy value even if the intervention that is tested (or its setting) does not correspond exactly to any realistic …

generally and opinions on taxation and spending policy, more specifically. Next, we move to the county level, and measure tax …

lockdowns. Rules that limit a government's future policy discretion can improve the efficiency of lockdowns, even in the …

We study the optimal lockdown policy for a planner who wants to control the fatalities of a pandemic while minimizing …'s dynamic control problem. The optimal policy depends on the fraction of infected and susceptible in the population. We … identifies the features that shape the intensity and duration of the optimal lockdown policy. Our baseline parametrization is …

societies always have developed economies and developed polities suggests that the connection between economics and politics … must be a fundamental part of the development process. This paper develops an integrated theory of economics and politics …

This paper explores the foundations of religious influence in politics and society. We show that an important Islamic …