We implement a spatial probit model to differentiate states with a lottery from those without a lottery. Our analysis extends the basic spatial probit model by allowing spatial dependence to vary across geographic regions. We also separate the spatial effects of neighbors versus non-neighbors....

We consider whether disaggregated data enhances the efficiency of aggregate employment forecasts. We find that incorporating spatial interaction into a disaggregated forecasting model lowers the out-of-sample mean-squared-error from a univariate aggregate model by 70 percent at a two-year horizon.

In this paper we study the determinants of banks’ decision to adopt a transactional website for their customers. Using a panel of commercial banks in the United States for the period 2003-2005, we show that although bank-specific characteristics are important determinants of banks’ adoption...

The influx of low-skilled and undocumented workers raises concerns about the impact on low-skilled U.S.-born workers and on the tax burden for all those born in the United States.

Americans are estimated to have raised their donations to charity three-fold over the past 40 years. What motivates them to give?

Competition among governments differs in several aspects from competition among private agents, in terms of both its positive and normative implications. In this paper we test empirically for strategic interaction among U.S. states in the determination of tax rates on capital income using...

Since New Hampshire introduced the first modern state-sponsored lottery in 1964, 41 other states plus the District of Columbia have adopted lotteries. Lottery ticket sales in the United States topped $48 billion in 2004, with state governments reaping nearly $14 billion in net lottery revenue....

We reexamine the relationship between quality of public schools and house prices and find it to be nonlinear. Unlike most studies in the literature, we find that the price premium parents must pay to buy a house in an area associated with a better school increases as school quality increases....