Much empirical research in the social sciences is concerned with estimating conditional mean functions. The most frequently used estimation methods assume that the conditional mean function is known up to a set of constant parameters that can be estimated from data. Such methods are called...

The least-absolute-deviations (LAD) estimator for a median- regression model does not satisfy the standard conditions for obtaining asymptotic refinements through use of the bootstrap because the LAD objective function is not smooth. This paper overcomes this problem by smoothing the objective...

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) STRIDE data contain records of acquisitions of illegal drugs by undercover agents and informants of the DEA and Metropolitan Police of the District of Columbia. These data are widely used in economic analyses of markets for illegal drugs....

This paper is concerned with evaluating alternative unemployment insurance (UI) schemes in a dynamic economy with moral hazard. We consider changes in the size and duration of UI benefits, and the effects of experience rating, and use a dynamic contracting approach to determine a benchmark...

This paper models a family business as a closely-held technology that cannot be contracted upon. Each generation can either bequeath the business to the next generation, or it could sell it through a financial intermediary and bequeath the revenue.

We study the emergence and coexistence of monetary and credit transactions in a model where exchange is decentralized. Agents belong to different villages which are informationally separated. The frequency of meetings between any two different villages decreases as their respective geographic...

A model of dynamic risk-sharing is constructed where agents meet pairwise and at random, and there is private information about endowments. Risk sharing is accomplished through dynamic contracts involving credit transactions, and through monetary exchange. A Friedman rule is optimal, and...