In this paper, I consider a body of observational evidence not commonly studied by social scientists, namely the behavior of men and women (mostly men) in the military. I focus here on three issues: first the behavioral foundations for creating an effective military unit; second, evidence that...

This paper examines the interwar housing cycle in comparison to what transpired in the United States between 2001 and 2011. The 1920s experienced a boom in construction and prolonged retardation in building in the 1930s, resulting in a swing in residential construction's share of GDP, and its...

Do economic downturns provide a long term boost to the growth of potential output? The answer, based on an examination of Depression era experience, is nuanced. TFP growth across the 1930s resulted from the confluence of three tributaries. The first was the continuing high rate of TFP growth...

Do economic downturns provide a long term boost to the growth of potential output? The answer, based on an examination of Depression era experience, is nuanced. TFP growth across the 1930s resulted from the confluence of three tributaries. The first was the continuing high rate of TFP growth...

Claims that the experience of economic mobilization between 1942 and 1945 laid the supply foundations for output and productivity growth in the United States after the war have formed the basis of the conventional wisdom for decades. In fact, between 1941 and 1948, total factor productivity...

We are now in the midst of what will likely be the most serious economic and financial crisis since the Great Depression. This essay considers how we got into this mess, what responsibility government bears in allowing this to happen, and what the history of the Great Depression tells us about...

Much of economic theory has been guided by a methodology that, in its more enthusiastic moments, seems to glorify the irrelevance of empirical research on how people actually behave (see, e.g, Selten, 1998). In this light it is not surprising that with one or two important exceptions,...