We estimate the effects of privatization on zombie versus healthy state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in China, extending … productivity and TFP, reduces bank and government subsidies, alleviates leverage and administrative expenses, improves liquidity … privatization of underperforming, zombie-like entities can lead to substantial economic improvements and greater efficiency …

This paper develops a simple theoretical framework to study a set of regions, each with its own regional government …, who share a union or central government. These governments must decide whether to implement or discard a large number of … are insensitive to externalities. The key observation here is that the union government is insensitive to local benefits …

natural disasters threaten, the government -- in its traditional role as public goods provider -- must decide what level of …, further complicating the government's choice problem. We show that when deciding on the current level of protection, the … government must take account of the option value of increasing the level of protection in the future …

Firms often exploit loopholes in government contracts to boost revenues. The welfare consequences of this behavior …