The question of whether governments spend too much or too little has been a frequent subject of debate, but has been infrequently analyzed.This paper proposes and then applies a methodology which checks to see whether the "Samuelson condition" for the efficient provision of local public...

Until recently, estimates of demand functions for public goods were obtained (either with aggregate or micro survey data) using single equation estimation techniques. However, demand estimates may be biased when in dividuals' choices of communities are dependent upon the quantity and quality of...

Policy makers are showing increasing interest in employment and training programs as a means of reducing welfare costs, despite the evidence that welfare costs are reduced little by these programs. This paper examines the potential for increasing the welfare savings associated with such programs...

Female labor force participation has increased significantly in Latin America during the last two decades, a period which was also characterized by large fluctuations in aggregate economic activity. The particular question that this paper focuses on is: How do macroeconomic conditions affect...