On January 1, 1999, the euro was launched with eleven members and it instantly became the second most important currency in the world. It may prove to be the most important event in the history of the international monetary system since the dollar took over from sterling the role of dominant...

Tax reforms usually change both tax rates and tax bases. Using a panel of income tax returns spanning the two major U.S. tax reforms of the 1980s and a number of smaller tax law changes, I find that the elasticity of income reported on personal income tax returns depends on the available...

Witness intimidation is a fundamental threat to the rule of law. It also involves significant strategic complexity and two-sided uncertainty: a criminal cannot know whether his threat will effectively deter a witness from testifying, and a witness cannot know whether the threat will in fact be...

Reduced industrial activity leads to improve local air quality. Using plant level micro data from the Census of Manufacturers, I explore how county particulate levels vary for counties that feature different manufacturing activity levels and that differ with respect to manufacturing's capital...

This paper estimates the effect of judicial institutions on governance and corruption in local governments. Our estimation strategy exploits a unique institutional feature of state judiciary branches in Brazil which assigns prosecutors and judges to the most populous among contiguous counties...