We show that while firms that typically pay dividends already have high ratios of retained-earnings-to-total-equity (RE/TE) and high propensities to pay (PTP) early on, firms that typically do not pay dividends have persistently low RE/TE and low PTP even after 20 years of growth. This...

We estimate the growth and utility effects of switching from a graduated-rate federal income tax to a flat tax along the lines of Hall-Rabushka (1995). We, furthermore, calculate the post-reform transition dynamics for a number of variables, including the economic growth rate, the representative...

Part II of the Alternative Risk Transfer Series, "Non-Life Utilization of Insurance-Linked Securities, " provides an overview of the non-life insurance-linked securities sector, from the first securities issued - catastrophe bonds - to derivatives and synthetics. This paper charts the industry...

We develop and test a simple model of limited attention in intertemporal choice. The model posits that individuals fully attend to consumption in all periods but fail to attend to some future lumpy expenditure opportunities. This asymmetry generates some predictions that overlap with models of...

In a recent paper, George and Hwang (2009) assert that endogenous debt choice in a cross-section of diverse firms can imply a negative relation between leverage or distress risk and expected stock returns. This note clarifies conditions, in the context of their model, under which this is so. We...

Control of carbon dioxide emissions in developing countries is becoming a key issue in the international climate policy. A critical element for achieving substantial emission reduction in those countries is the installment of new energy technologies. Drawing on the framework of poverty-trap...

CCS (carbon dioxide capture and storage) is an issue which has received increasing attention in the debate on climate change over the last years because of its relative technical simplicity and a large expected potential in reducing carbon dioxide emissions. The coexistence of both strong...

Merchant fees and reward programs generate an implicit monetary transfer to credit card users from non-card (or "cash") users because merchants generally do not set differential prices for card users to recoup the costs of fees and rewards. On average, each cash-using household pays $149 to...

There is little available in the literature with regard to the use of psychosocial assessment as a screening tool in experimental surgery with human research participants. A psychosocial assessment screening model has been developed to assess potential participants in a phase one clinical trial...

Redistribution is an inevitable feature of collective pension schemes and economic experiments have revealed that most people have a preference for redistribution that is not merely inspired by self-interest. Interestingly, little is known on how these preferences interact with preferences for...