Analyses of optimal government capital structure generally follow Bohn (1990) and Barro (1995) in assuming risk neutrality or an exogenous risk premium. These analyses usually conclude that the optimal government capital structure stabilizes tax rates over time and states of nature to the...

It is widely believed that the growing use of electronic financial transactions should reduce physical vulnerability to crimes such as robbery and burglary. Using a sample of 49 countries over six years, we test this hypothesis using fixed effects (FE) and difference GMM estimators. Our results...

Privatization generally enhances firm-level efficiency. The impact of privatization on fiscal efficiency has, however, been overlooked. Using the "tax-smoothing" ideas articulated in Barro (1979) and Bohn (1990), we argue that privatization may have an important impact on the welfare losses...

The US Armed Forces officially desegregated in 1948. Over the following 70 years, the military has made great strides in promoting racial integration. However, we find evidence that, even today, African American soldiers' experience of military service differs significantly from that of other...