This chapter assesses how models with search frictions have shaped our understanding of aggregatelabor market outcomes in two contexts: business cycle fluctuations and long-run (trend) changes. Wefirst consolidate data on aggregate labor market outcomes for a large set of OECD countries. We...

Carbon control policies in OECD countries commonly differentiate emission prices in favor of energy-intensiveindustries. While leakage provides a efficiency argument for differential emission pricing, the lattermay be a disguised beggar-thy-neighbor policy to exploit terms of trade. Using an...

How important is financial development for economic development? A costly state verification modelof financial intermediation is presented to address this question. The model is calibrated to match factsabout the U.S. economy, such as intermediation spreads and the firm-size distribution for the...

We investigate the historical origins of female genital cutting (FGC), a harmful practice widespread across Africa. We test the hypothesis - substantiated by historical sources - that FGC was connected to the Red Sea slave trade route, where women were sold as concubines in the Middle East and...

In this paper, we examine the impact of variation in local economic conditions on the hazard into child marriage (i.e. prior to age 18) among young women in Africa and India. We show that rainfall shocks, a major source of income variation in these areas, have similar effects on crop yields but...