Location-specific norms of behavior are a widespread phenomenon. In the case of medical practice, numerous studies have found that geographic location exerts a strong influence on the choice of treatments and procedures. This paper shows how the presence of social influence on treatment...

We develop a model of contracting in which individual effort choices are subject to social pressure to conform to the average effort level of others in the same risk-sharing group. As in related models of social interactions, a change in exogenous variables or contract terms generates a social...

Share contracts are common in principal-agent relationships when returns are uncertain and it is costly to measure the agent's contribution. Well-known examples of these types of arrangements include sales commissions for real estate agents, contingency fees for attorneys, and cropshare...

Several recent studies find that as of 2015, a significant share of working-age adults in the United States participates in nonstandard work arrangements. Such arrangements tend to lack long-term employment contracts and are often referred to as "gig economy" jobs. This paper investigates the...

Previous studies of survey data for the United States and other countries find that on average women tend to understate their body weight, while on average both men and women overstate their height. Social norms have been posited as a potential explanation for misreporting of weight and height,...

Aside from effects on nearby property values, research is sparse on how foreclosures may generate negative externalities. Employing a unique dataset that matches individual student records from Boston Public Schools - including test scores, demographics, home address moves, and school changes -...

Using a novel database of 159 million online job postings, we examine changes in employer skill requirements for education and specific skillsets between 2007 and 2017. We find that upskilling - in terms of increasing demands for bachelor's degrees as well as software skills - was a persistent...

A variety of researchers and public entities have estimated the prevalence of nontraditional work arrangements - using diverse definitions - in recent decades, and the topic has received increasing attention in the past five years. Despite numerous media reports that the prevalence of...

With nominal interest rates at the zero lower bound, an important question for monetary policy is whether, as predicted in prior theoretical work, an increase in inflation expectations would boost current consumer spending. Using survey panel data for the period from April 2009 to November 2012,...