We document the association between a firm's payout policy and its stock's liquidity. In particular, we show that dividend-paying firms have a more liquid market for their stock and measures of a stock's liquidity is positively linked to its probability of being a dividend payer. Furthermore,...

We use a network model of credit risk to measure market expectations of the potential spillovers from a sovereign default. Specifically, we develop an empirical model, based on the recent theoretical literature on contagion in financial networks, and estimate it with data on sovereign credit...

We develop a model of induced innovation that applies to medical research. Our model yields three empirical predictions. First, initial death rates and subsequent research effort should be positively correlated. Second, research effort should be associated with more rapid mortality declines....

Most work on social interactions studies a single, composite effect of interactions within a group. Yet in the case of sexual initiation, there are two distinct social mechanisms - peer-group norms and partner availability with separate effects and different potential interventions. Here I...

In the stochastic frontier model we extend the multivariate probability statements of Horrace (2005) to calculate the conditional probability that a firm is any particular efficiency rank in the sample. From this we construct the conditional expected efficiency rank for each firm. Compared to...

In an integrated global financial system, a sovereign default raises concerns of financial contagion to other countries. We develop and estimate an equilibrium model featuring a network of international borrowing and lending. In the model, the network structure of borrowing-lending relationships...

Parametric stochastic frontier models yield firm-level conditional distributions of inefficiency that are truncated normal. Given these distributions, how should one assess and rank firm-level efficiency? This study compares the techniques of estimating (a) the conditional mean of inefficiency...

The long-standing inverse relationship between education and mortality strengthened substantially at the end of the 20th century. This paper examines the reasons for this increase. We show that behavioral risk factors are not of primary importance. Smoking declined more for the better educated,...