Using data from approximately 1,000 small and mostly rural municipalities from Illinois, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, the authors study choices in production arrangements over a wide range of services, and examine a variety of contracting options available to local governments. The data reveal...

The returns to college are substantial, including increased earnings and public benefits, such as better health and increased involvement in public service and giving. As a result, since the introduction of the Guaranteed Student Loan program in 1965 and the Pell Grant in 1972, the federal...

This essay provides an overview of current trade patterns between New England and China. It was prepared for a symposium sponsored by The Boston Athenaeum comparing New England’s present-day trade with China to the region’s prominence in the U.S.-China trade of the 19th century. The essay...

Bank panics were a regular occurrence in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The failure of one commodity speculator in October 1907 triggered a nationwide bank run. This publication tells how the panic developed, spread, and was resolved. A chronology is included along with a section of...

Pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth—theologians tell us that we become better people by examining these sources of failure. But my concern here is not with the classic seven deadly sins, but what I feel are the contemporary seven deadly sins being committed in current policy...

A consensus in macroeconomics holds that the observed higher-frequency movements in employment and hours of work are movements along a labor-supply function caused by shifts of the labor demand function. Recent theoretical thinking has extended this view to include fluctuations in unemployment,...

Traces the history of the banking system in the United States from 1789, discusses the banking problems of the 19th century, and describes the legislation that led to the formation of the Federal Reserve System.

Recaps events leading to the collapse of American banking in March 1933 and describes federal efforts to restore public confidence.