This paper shows that whether or not a sovereign can borrow to smooth consump- tion depends both on how consumption smoothing is achieved, whether by contingent debt issuance or by contingent debt servicing, and on the penalty for debt repudiation. If a sovereign that repudiated its debt could...

This paper offers an explanation for observed differences across countries in educational policies and in resulting interpersonal distributions of human capital. We analyse a general-equilibrium model in which, as a result of the apportionment of natural ability, nurturing, and publicly financed...

This paper addresses the following question: Does characterizing the state to be an agent of its subjects provide a useful "as if" framework for positive analysis of economic policy? Or, can we understand economic policy only by explicitly characterizing the state as proprietary, the instrument...

Both common sense and historical examples suggest that resource scarcity causes appro- priative con ict as people struggle with each other to avoid hunger and starvation. But, economic intuition, also supported by historical examples, suggests that resource abundance, by giving people more to...