Extensive field and experimental evidence shows that reference points shape behavior. But, what shapes the reference point? Candidates put forward in the literature range from the status quo, to rational expectations and the narrow focus of dreaming or worrying about a single possible outcome....

We propose a foundation for expressive voting that is based on a novel theory of social preferences under risk. Under our proposal, expressive considerations in voting endogenously arise from the particular way in which risky social prospects are assessed. To motivate this connection, we relate...

We argue that when fiscal policy is endogenously determined, the incentives of redistributive politics associated with its formulation can endogenously add to the uncertainty and volatility that an economy faces. In particular, small shocks may get translated into large fluctuations. Our...

We propose and axiomatically characterize, within Harsanyi's impartial observer setting, a utilitarian social welfare function (SWF) that can accommodate concerns for procedural fairness. Under our proposal, concerns for procedural fairness in social welfare assessments are inherited from...

The majority of results in the literature on general equilibrium are not for an economy (i.e. given an endowment and preferences), but rather, for a set of economies (i.e. a set of endowments given preferences). Therefore, we argue that the most appropriate robustness result requires perturbing...