We investigate overlapping contests in multi-divisional organizations in which an individual's effort simultaneously determines the outcome of several contests on different hierarchical levels. We show that individuals in larger units are disadvantaged in the grand (organization-wide) contest...

We investigate overlapping contests in multi-divisional organizations in which an individual's effort simultaneously determines the outcome of several contests on different hierarchical levels. We show that individuals in smaller units are advantaged in the grand (organization-wide) contest for...

The Winner s Curse (WC) is a non-equilibrium behavior in common-value auctions involving systematic and persistent overbidding that often results in signi ficant losses. It is one of the most robust fi ndings in laboratory experiments. We developed an auction mechanism with a payment rule that...

Recent empirical research emphasizes the importance of foresight for tax policy analyses. According to Leeper et al. (2013a), failing to model foresight adequately can lead to biased inference in empirical models. The authors reveal this bias by augmenting the SVAR model of Blanchard and Perotti...

The recent sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone was characterized by a monetary policy, which has been constrained by the zero lower bound (ZLB) on nominal interest rates, and several countries, which faced high risk spreads on their sovereign bonds. How is the government spending multiplier...

This paper examines the effects of fiscal policy measures on GDP and the government budget balance in a structural VAR model. In order to identify expenditure shocks we follow Blachard/Perotti (2002) and assume that government expenditure is partly predetermined in the budget. For the...

We use a novel procedure to identify fiscal feedback rules for the US: We start by estimating a DSGE model and on that basis compute the Ramsey optimal responses to structural shocks. Then we let the policy maker choose from a general set of rules to match the dynamic behavior of a number of key...

Can a large-scale deficit spending program speed up recovery after recession? To answer that question we calibrate a standard neoclassical growth model with US data and assume that an exogenous shock has driven aggregate output far below steady-state and that the economy is expected to recover...

We re-examin the notion of identifying macroeconomic effects using the narrative approach taking as an application the estimation of tax multipliers. We point out to a test for the checking the adequacy of regressing the narrative measure directly on the outcome variable. This test...