The first essay explains why credit contracts in developing countries are often denominated in foreign currencies, even after many of these economies succeeded in controlling inflation. I propose a new interpretation based on the demand for insurance against real aggregate shocks. The fact that...

These four essays concern the theory of games and its application to economic theory. The first two, closely linked, chapters are an investigation into the foundational question of the sensitivity of the predictions of game theory to higher-order beliefs. Impact of Higher-Order Uncertainty with...

This dissertation consists of four empirical studies, each using military-induced variation to examine various aspects of human capital production and the U.S. labor market. The first two chapters study the effects of social interactions on human capital development at the United States Military...

This thesis consists of three studies of labor markets where differences in talent are associated with very large differences in income. The unifying theoretical feature is the view that the analysis of such labor markets should take into account the scarcity of jobs, which is a natural...

The first chapter of this dissertation examines the behavior of long- and short-term capital gains distributions after the passage of the Tax Reform Act of 1997, which lowered the maximum tax rate on long-term gains. Using a panel of mutual fund data, I examine the ratio of long-term to total...

In Chapter 1, I study the efficiency properties of competitive search equilibria in economies with informational asymmetries. Employers and workers are both risk-neutral and ex-ante homogeneous. I characterize an equilibrium where employers post contracts and workers direct their search towards...

This dissertation consists of three papers studying how firms allocate real and financial capital, and how taxes, the labor market and asymmetric information affect these allocation decisions. The first paper studies the response of business investment to taxes. I use the variation provided by...

My dissertation is a collection of three essays that consider various aspects of income inequality and the demand for skill. The first chapter uses the advent of the US Interstate Highway System to examine the effect of reducing trade barriers on the relative demand for skilled labor. The...

This thesis studies the long-term benefits of preschool interventions, the impact of promotions on heart disease, and the effects of light trucks on traffic fatalities. The first chapter examines the long-term effects of preschool interventions. Several influential experiments - Abecedarian,...

This thesis is a collection of three essays on labor economics from a macroeconomic prospective. Chapter 1 discusses imperfect information, self-selection and the market for higher education. It explores how the steady trends in increased tuition costs, college enrollment and returns to...