James Watt's 1769 patent is widely supposed to have stood in the way of the development of high-pressure steam technology until it finally expired in 1800. We dispute this popular claim. We show that, although it is true that high-pressure steam technology developed only after the expiration of...

"A new history of the New Deal's economic recovery efforts-and why they failed to delivery on their promises. FDR's New Deal policies have long enjoyed a special place in the history of American policy and society-not just because many of them lastingly redefined the Federal government's...

We study the welfare impact of rules of origin in free trade agreements where final-good producers source customized inputs from suppliers within the trading bloc. We employ a property-rights framework that features hold-up problems in suppliers' decisions to invest, and where underinvestment is...

The increasing use of the Internet creates a need to manage traffic while preserving equal treatment of content. We estimate demand for residential broadband, using high-frequency data from subscribers facing a three-part tariff, and use the estimates to study the welfare implications of...