Stock market reactions to political events demonstrate that the value of some firms is strongly affected by which party controls political power. However, contrary to common perception, event studies do not indicate that the ability to make unlimited political contributions or expenditures...

I propose two simple variable addition test statistics for three tests of the specification of high-frequency predictors in a model to forecast a series observed at a lower frequency. The first is similar to existing test statistics and I show that it is robust to biased forecasts, integrated...

We introduce a panel model with a nonparametric functional coefficient of multiple arguments. The coefficient is a function both of time, allowing temporal changes in an otherwise linear model, and of the regressor itself, allowing nonlinearity. In contrast to a time series model, the effects of...

We study the effect of increases in state minimum wages on the prices of several fast-food items using quarterly city-level data from 1993-2012, a period during much of which the federal minimum wage declined in real value while state-level legislation flourished. For two products, burgers and...

During the late 1990s public pension funds across the United States accrued large actuarial surpluses. The seemingly flush conditions of the pension funds led legislators in most states to substantially improve retirement benefits for public workers, including teachers. In this study we examine...

There is a long-standing scholarly literature on the electoral effects of campaign spending; nevertheless, the academic research offers only limited guidance for policy makers interested in campaign finance reform. In part, this is because existing studies have focused narrowly on some vexing...

The specifics of how growth models should be constructed and used to evaluate schools and teachers is a topic of lively policy debate in states and school districts nationwide. In this paper we take up the question of model choice and examine three competing approaches. The first approach,...

Laboratory experiments reporting on shortfalls from allocative efficiency of allocation mechanisms depend on the induced-values methodology, which cannot be extended to the field. Harstad [2011] proposes to observe efficiency of allocation mechanisms without knowing motivations via behavior in...

The Supreme Court has long held that campaign finance regulations are permissible for the purpose of preventing corruption or the appearance of corruption. Yet the implied hypothesis that campaign finance reforms are effective tools for combating public corruption has gone essentially untested....

This paper quantitatively accounts for the cyclical dynamics of key macroeconomic housing and mortgage market variables using a tractable, search-theoretic model of housing with equilibrium mortgage default. To explain these dynamics, the model highlights the importance of liquidity spirals...