In this paper, we investigate the relationship between government size and the unemployment rate using a structural error correction model that describes both the short-run dynamics and long-run determination of the unemployment rate. Using data from twenty OECD countries from 1970 to 1999, we...

On August 15, 1971, Richard Nixon imposed the first and only peacetime wage and price controls in U.S. history. The Nixon tapes, personal tape recordings made during the presidency of Richard Nixon, are now available to the public and provide a unique body of evidence to investigate the...

This paper investigates the hypothesis that economic growth is affected by banking structure and fiscal policies. We use data from the 48 contiguous states for the period 1950–1980 aggregated into six five-year time periods, primarily to test the effect of the following factors on growth of...

The Federal Election Campaign Act as passed in 1971 and amended in 1974 represented landmark federal legislation. It imposed new restrictions on campaign contributions and contained path-breaking provisions for the use of public funds to partially finance the campaigns of qualifying presidential...

Economic stress led South Dakota and Delaware in the early 1980’s to eliminate their usury laws and enact other enabling legislation in an effort to attract a new industry and new jobs to their states. Sufficient time has now elapsed to assess the success of the policies adopted by these two...

Evidence from the Nixon tapes, now available to researchers, shows that President Richard Nixon pressured the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Arthur Burns, to engage in expansionary monetary policies in the run-up to the 1972 election. This paper quotes the relevant conversations from the Nixon...

The Bernanke-Blinder credit-view model is expanded to encompass a small, open economy with fixed exchange rates. In contrast to conventional wisdom and traditional models, monetary policy is resurrected as a stabilization tool. We show that various financial sector shocks have real aggregate...