We estimate the short-run effects of severe weather shocks on local economic activity and assess cross-border spillovers operating through economic linkages between U.S. states. We measure weather shocks using a detailed county-level database on emergency declarations triggered by natural...

The standard real-options model predicts that increased uncertainty discourages investment. When projects are large and take time to build, however, this prediction can be reversed. We investigate the investment/uncertainty relationship empirically using historical data on opening dates of new...

The literature on estimating macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy requires suitable instruments to identify exogenous and unanticipated spending shocks. So far, the instrument of choice has been military build-ups. This instrument, however, largely limits the analysis to the US as few other...