Can a social norm of trust and reciprocity emerge among strangers? We investigate this question by examining behavior in an experiment where subjects repeatedly play a two-player binary ―trust‖ game. Players are randomly and anonymously paired with one another in each period. The...

Empirical tests of macroeconomic and monetary theories are typically conducted using non-experimental field data provided by government agencies. Modern theories, however, have increasingly imposed restrictions on individual behavior that are not embodied in any available field data. An...

We show that extrinsic or nonfundamental uncertainty influences markets in a controlled environment. This work provides the first direct evidence of sunspot equilibria. These equilibria require a common understanding of the semantics of the sunspot variable, and they appear to be sensitive to...

This discussion paper led to a publication in the 'European Economic Review' (2013). Vol. 61, pp. 186-204.<P> Rational Expectations (RE) models have two crucial dimensions: 1) agents correctly forecast future prices given all available information, and 2) given expectations, agents solve...</p>

This paper reports fiÂndings from an experiment that implements the Lagos-Wright(2005) model of monetary exchange. We find that subjects generally avoid the autarkic equilibrium of that model and make trading decisions consistent with the monetary equilibrium predictions of that model....

This dissertation investigates the implications of different methods of identifying exogenous shocks to defense purchases for estimating the macroeconomic effects of shocks to government purchases. Four identification schemes are examined: the narrative approach of Ramey and Shapiro (1997), a...

This dissertation investigates the reasons behind international price dispersion. The first essay, International Price Dispersion and the Direction of Trade, discusses the importance of trade cost as a determinant of international price dispersion. The importance of trade costs in segmenting...

International evidence on growth rates in per capita incomes reveals persistent differences in development patterns among nations, and shows that the world distribution of per capita income is multi-modal with several basins of attraction. This dissertation investigates the factors underlying...