We use monthly time-series data for 20 large US cities to test the deterrence hypothesis (arrests reduce crimes) and the resource reallocation hypothesis (arrests follow from an increase in crime). We find (1) weak support for the deterrence hypothesis, (2) much stronger support for the resource...

Lotteries are found in nearly half of the world's countries, with annual worldwide lottery ticket sales topping $115 billion. Despite the global presence of lottery games, there has been little research conducted on any international aspect of lotteries. This paper presents the first-ever...

This article develops a volatility model based on portfolio theory to examine state tax revenue variability. Unlike traditional parametric methods used to analyse state tax revenue variability, the portfolio approach allows the computation of a tax's share of total tax revenue that minimizes the...

The high rate of budget stabilization fund adoption during the 1980s is often attributed to the 1980–1982 recession. In this view, states adopted funds to prevent a recurrence of the fiscal crises experienced during that recession. An alternative hypothesis is that some funds adopted during...

This paper provides a new treatment of district location in modeling the determinants of teacher salaries by incorporating the methodology of spatial econometrics. Using a location weighting variable, we examine how starting teacher salaries in one district are influenced by other districts'...

The 1950s are often pointed to as a decade in which the Federal Reserve operated a particularly successful monetary policy. The present paper examines the evolution of Federal Reserve monetary policy from the mid-1930s through the 1950s in an effort to understand better the apparent success of...

Darryl Francis was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis from 1966 to 1975. Throughout those years he was a leading critic of U.S. monetary policy. Francis argued in policy meetings and public venues that monetary policy should focus on maintaining a stable price level. In contrast,...

In 1936-37, the Federal Reserve doubled the reserve requirements imposed on member banks. Ever since, the question of whether the doubling of reserve requirements increased reserve demand and produced a contraction of money and credit, and thereby helped to cause the recession of 1937-1938, has...