At the spring 2003 meetings of the IMF and World Bank it was decided to push ahead with the contractual approach to smoothing the process of sovereign debt restructuring by encouraging the more widespread use of collective action clauses (CACs) in international bonds. This decision was shaped by...

In recent years, a plethora of public and private programs in the United States have been created to close the "Digital Divide."  Interestingly, however, we know very little about the underlying causes of racial differences in rates of computer and Internet access.  In this paper, I use...

Approximately 9 out of 10 high school students who have access to a home computer use that computer to complete school assignments. Do these home computers, however, improve educational outcomes? Using the Computer and Internet Use Supplement to the 2001 Current Population Survey, I explore...

In contrast to the large and rapidly growing literature on IT investments and firm productivity, we know very little about the role of personal computers in business creation.  Using matched data from the 1997-2001 Computer and Internet Usage Supplements to subsequent Outgoing Rotation Group...

The Kauffman Index of Entrepreneurial Activity is a leading indicator of new business creation in the United States.  Capturing new business owners in their first month of significant business activity, this measure provides the earliest documentation of new business development across the...

A growing literature examines the relationship between personality traits and entrepreneurship, but no previous studies explore whether personality or psychological traits predispose individuals to benefit more from entrepreneurship training. To address selection issues, we use novel data from...

The Blinder-Oaxaca decomposition technique is widely used to identify and quantify the separate contributions of group differences in measurable characteristics, such as education, experience, marital status, and geographical differences to racial and gender gaps in outcomes especially wage,...