This paper examines the magnitude and timing of American business cycles from 1869 to 1928, with particular emphasis on the pre-World War I period. A new real output series is constructed which resurrects the conclusion that pre-World War I business cycles were twice as severe as post-World War...

The history of banking around the world has been punctuated by frequent systemic crises. As with Tolstoy's unhappy families, not all crises are the same; distinct roles have been played at different times by mismanagement, government interference and macroeconomic shocks. This review identifies...

To what extent do differential levels of investment in public health inputs explain observed differences in health outcomes across socioeconomic and racial groups? This study investigates the impact of 3,700 projects that were part of a widespread Federal initiative to improve sanitation...

This paper investigates the effect of relative income on marriage. Accounting flexibly for absolute income, the ratio between a manÂ’s income and a local reference group median is a strong predictor of marital status, but only for low-income men. Relative income affects marriage even among...

In rural areas of many developing countries, including China, people do not have the chance to retire, but rather have to continue working as they age. In this paper, we have two specific objectives. First, we will illustrate the work and retirement patterns of the elderly, and develop a profile...

Optimal carbon taxation is evaluated in a model where climate change affects productivity. With a numerical US economy model with preexisting taxes, the optimal carbon tax is found to exceed marginal social damage by 53 percent and "marginal private damage" (the sum of households?marginal...

Development practitioners in the West have proclaimed that a "feminization of agriculture" is occurring in the developing world. In this paper, I use household survey data collected in rural China to empirically test whether or not women have been doing an increasing amount of farmwork. I find...

Trade and export, it is argued, spur economic growth. This paper studies the microeconomics of exporting. We build a heuristic model of transactions between exporters and producers and relate it to East India Company operations in colonial Bengal. Our model and the historical record stress two...

This paper develops an impure public good model to analyze the comparative statics of environmentally friendly consumption. “Green” products are treated as impure public goods that arise through joint production of a private characteristic and an environmental public characteristic. The...