Religious prohibitions against usury constitute a tie-in between religious reward and the use of charity and reciprocal exchange to smooth consumptiopn. We argue that prohibitions will occur when the following apply: consumption smoothing is requied for the survival of the population; charity...

We develop a novel approach to build checks of parametric regression models when many regressors are present, based on a class of rich enough semiparametric alternatives, namely single-index models. We propose an omnibus test based on the kernel method that performs against a sequence of...

We introduce learning in a principal-agent model of stochastic output sharing under moral hazard. Without knowing the agents' preferences and technology the principal tries to learn the optimal agency contract. We implement two learning paradigms - social (learning from others) and individual...

In this paper, I provide a rationale for why money should earn interest; or, what amounts to the same thing, why risk-free claims to non-interestbearing money should trade at discount. I argue that interest-bearing money is essential when individual money balances are private information. The...

In a model with social influence, Becker (1991) offers an explanation for why popular restaurants with excess demand do not raise their prices. He also offers an explanation for why such restaurants do not increase supply but admits his explanation may be weak. Becker does not provide a formal...

We consider the problem of estimating and decomposing wage differentials in the presence of unobserved worker, firm, and match heterogeneity. Controlling for these unobservables corrects omitted variable bias in previous studies. It also allows us to measure the contribution of unmeasured...