Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy hold to a pessimistic belief in historical persistence -- they believe that Latin America has always had very high levels of inequality, suggesting it will be hard for modern social policy to create a more egalitarian society. This paper argues...

Most analysts of the modern Latin American economy hold to a pessimistic belief in historical persistence - they believe that Latin America has always had very high levels of inequality, suggesting it will be hard for modern social policy to create a more egalitarian society. This paper argues...

This essay uncovers an important piece of an enduring puzzle: Why, beginning in the mid-1960s, did American managers turn away from long-term competitiveness and become fixated on measures of short-term performance? The legacy of this pivot can be seen half a century later in slower productivity...

This paper studies within-family decision making regarding investment in income protection for surviving spouses. A change in US pension law (the Retirement Equity Act of 1984) is used as an instrument to derive predictions both from a simple Nash-bargaining model of the household and from the...

The chapter analyzes the basis of the market economy in classical Rome, from the perspective of personal vs impersonal exchange and focusing on the role of the state in providing market-enabling institutions. It starts by reviewing the central conflict in all exchanges between those holding and...

This paper investigates the life outcomes of immigrant descendants of intermarriage. Conceptually there are two major opposing mechanisms by which intermarriages might affect their offspring: the marital surplus mechanism suggests that children of intermarriage would receive less effective...

This paper studies within-family decision making regarding investment in income protection for surviving spouses. A change in US pension law (the Retirement Equity Act of 1984) is used as an instrument to derive predictions both from a simple Nash-bargaining model of the household and from the...

This paper argues that history of economics has a fruitful, underappreciated role to play in the development of economics, especially when understood as a policy science. This goes against the grain of the last half century during which economics, which has undergone a formal revolution, has...

Over the course of a quarter of a millennium industrial capitalism has emerged from four deep recessions brought on by the bursting of commodity bubbles to achieve sustained economic growth by instituting progressive policies. These policies promote market success by reinforce entrepreneurial...