This paper analyzes data from a novel field experiment designed to test the impact of twodifferent insurance products and a secret saving device on solidarity in risk-sharing groupsamong rural villagers in the Philippines. Risk is simulated by a lottery. Risk-sharing ispossible in solidarity...

This paper is the first to provide evidence of efficient taxation of groups with heterogeneouslevels of ‘tax morale’. We set up an optimal income tax model where high tax morale impliesa high subjective cost of evading taxes. The model predicts that ‘nice guys finish last’: groupswith...

We analyze three related but distinct concepts concerning the renminbi’s role in the globalmonetary system: (i) “internationalization” of the currency; (ii) currency convertibility; and (iii)reserve currency status. Their sequencing in relation to other policy goals such as financialsector...

This paper develops the theoretical foundations and the testable implications of the variousmechanisms that have been proposed as possible triggers for the demographic transition.Moreover, it examines the empirical validity of each of the theories and their significance forthe understanding of...

Conventional wisdom about the relationship between income distribution and economicdevelopment has been subjected to dramatic transformations in the past century. Whileclassical economists advanced the hypothesis that inequality is beneficial for growth, theneoclassical paradigm dismissed the...