Recent empirical studies show that the intergenerational persistence of economic status in the U.S. is much higher than previously thought. We develop a quantitative theory of inequality and intergenerational transmission of human capital where parents invest in early and college education of...

We analyze an election in which voters are uncertain about which of two alternatives is better for them. Voters can, however, acquire some costly information about the alternatives. As the number of voters increases, individual investment in political information declines to zero. However, the...

The paper uses a factor analysis model to study co-movements in non-durable consumption and output among the fifty U.S. states from 1969 to 1995. The paper finds that asymmetric shocks in output are, on average, large, i.e., of the same magnitude of U.S. business cycle fluctuations. Regional...

This note provides an alternative perspective for size-corrected power for a test. The advantage of this approach is that it allows the calculation of size-corrected power for bootstrap tests.

We test for the presence of market discipline in the banking sector in early 20th century Mexico. Using a panel of financial data from note-issuing banks between 1905 and 1910, we examine whether bank fundamentals influenced the pattern of withdrawals. If we do not control for exit, our...

We study product innovation and imitation in the market of corporate underwriting with a dynamic model where client switching costs and the bankers' expertise in deal structuring characterize the life cycle of a security. While the clientele loyalty allows positive rent extraction, the superior...

We present a mobilization model of large elections with endogenous formation of voter groups. Citizens decide whether to be followers or become leaders (activists) and try to bring other citizens to vote for their preferred party. In the (unique) pure strategy equilibrium, the number of leaders...

Landsberger, et al. (2001) have identified optimal bidder behavior in first-price private-value auctions when the ranking of valuations is common knowledge, and derived comparative-statics predictions regarding the auctioneer's expected revenue and the efficiency of the allocation. The...

We model electoral competition between two parties in a winner-take-all election. Parties choose strategically first their platforms and then their campaign spending under aggregate uncertainty about voters' preferences. We use the model to examine why campaign spending in the United States has...

We explore the role of domestic financial market frictions in explaining sharp movements in real and nominal exchange rates, capital flows, and output for a small open economy. Financial intermediaries arise endogenously to insulate depositors from the consequences of liquidity shocks and...