Bils, Klenow and Malin (forthcoming) (BKM) constructed a measure of reset price inflation (i.e. the rate of change of all "desired" prices) for the US. They argue that the existing pricing models cannot explain the observed reset inflation and aggregate inflation. In this paper, I show that a...

This paper studies the interactions between urban labour informality and selective migration, and explores the consequences of productivity changes at both sectoral and individual levels. It proposes a general equilibrium model with heterogeneous workers to characterize the sizable agriculture...

It is sometimes argued that foreign aid leads to a virtuous circle in which growth becomes self-reinforcing. We study two versions of this argument, using a modified neoclassical growth model in which the effects of parameter changes and capital accumulation are amplified. Simulations are used...

In the US labor market the average black worker is exposed to a lower employment rate and earns a lower wage compared to his white counterpart. Lang and Lehmann (2012) argue that these mean differences mask substantial heterogeneity along the distribution of workers’ skill. In particular, they...

Do parties matter? Yes, but not in the usual way we tend to think of them: big government Democrats and small government Republicans. Our first regression discontinuity design shows that whether the majority in the House of Representatives is Republican or Democratic does not affect the tax...

In this paper we explore how the composition of a market maker's portfolio and allocation of attention across securities in the portfolio affect pricing. We analyze whether more attention devoted to similar securities enables a market maker to extract information relevant to a stock from order...

We argue that insiders' decisions to trade in short windows before news announcements are likely to result from a trade-off between the incentives to capitalize on the foreknowledge of the disclosure and the risk of regulatory scrutiny and lost reputation. We provide evidence that insider buying...

We add to the concerns raised in Ljungqvist, Malloy and Marston, 2009, Rewriting History, Journal of Finance, 64, 1935-1960, about the reliability of the I/B/E/S data provided by Thomson Reuters (TR). Many of the dates reported as earnings announcement dates are not earnings announcement dates;...

This paper studies what induces governments to undertake reforms aimed at financial development. Its starting point is Abiad and Mody (AER 95(1), 2005). Rather than their ordered logit technique, it uses a within groups approach allowing for error dependence across countries and over time. This...

This paper generates monthly risk premia data using zero coupon government treasury bills for 43 countries over the period of 1994-2006. The measure of risk premia is based on the ARCH-in-Mean (ARCH-M) model introduced by Engle, Lilien and Robins (1987). We show that the risk premia are time...