In a risky world, should governments provide public goods that reduce risk or compensate the victims of bad outcomes? We examine the allocation of public expenditures in the context of a risky environment between the provision of a public good with risk-reducing characteristics, and the...

We collect information about more than 5,000 Prussian politicians, digitize administrative data on the provision of health-promoting public goods, and gather local-level information on workers’ movements to study why elites in industrializing countries implement policies that improve the...

This essay argues that the most crucial institution of any school system is its view of knowledge—from which virtually all other aspects of a school are derived: the content of its curricula, its pedagogical practices, and the incentives that motivate its members. To make this case, we outline...

In this paper, we develop a two sector DSGE model with market and political power interactions. These interactions are motivated by the politico-economic systems of several South European countries, over the last half century. In these countries the state permits the existence of industries,...

The relevance of the topic of the report is due to the adoption in 2015 by the United Nations (UN) of a new global agenda for the period up to 2030, containing seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - universal guidelines for subsequent development for all countries of the world without...

A child's family structure is a fundamental determinant of future well-being, making it essential to understand how public policies affect the involvement of fathers. In this paper, we exploit a reform of the German parental leave system which increased mother's income and reduced legal father's...

Reducing the gender gap in education is a primary goal for many countries. Two major challenges for many girls are the distance to school and their safety when commuting to school. In Zambia, we studied the impact of providing a bicycle to a school-going girl who lives more than 3 km from the...

Building and Loan Associations (B&Ls) financed over half of new houses constructed in the U.S. during the 1920s but they lost their predominance within the following decades as they were pushed to convert into Savings and Loans (S&Ls). This study examines whether the U.S. government-insured...

Housing First programs provide housing assistance without preconditions for homeless individuals as a platform for rehabilitation. Despite the programs’ increasing popularity, limited evidence exists on their effects on socioeconomic outcomes. Using a novel dataset combining administrative...

This paper/chapter, presented at the Thomson Reuters Government Contracts Year in Review Conference (covering 2021), attempts to identify some the leading, evolving trends and issues in U.S. federal procurement. Consistent with prior practice, this chapter offers extensive coverage of the...