Although psychologists view bonuses and penalties as very different means of providing incentives for workers, economists have had less success at making sense of the distinction. A rational worker should be indifferent as to whether a payment scheme is called a bonus or a penalty plan if the...

I study an overlapping generations model where physical and human capitals are used in production and can be accumulated by withholding resources from current consumption. Human capital is accumulated through a schooling system which can be finance either by private expenditures or by taxes on...

This paper builds models of nonlinear dynamics in the aggregate investment and borrower net worth and uses them to study the causes and nature of endogenous credit cycles. The basic model has two types of projects: the Good and the Bad. The Bad is highly productive, but, unlike the Good, it...