This research examines capacity utilization as a measure of economic slack in the US economy. Many macroeconomists have questioned the use of capacity utilization as a measure of economics slack on several fronts. The first issue revolves around the definition and accuracy of measurement of the...

This research examines capacity utilization as a measure of economic slack in the US economy. Many macroeconomists have questioned the use of capacity utilization as a measure of economics slack on several fronts. The first issue revolves around the definition and accuracy of measurement of the...

This study extends the literature on relative price dispersion by addressing two questions that have remained largely unanswered: (a) What is the impact on relative price dispersion of the variance of the uncertain relationship between money and prices? (b) Is there evidence across industries of...

Past research on the determinants of self-employment in the United States has emphasized the importance of ethnicity. In particular, self-employment rates for Blacks lag far behind those of other racial groups for comparable individuals. This research examines two related issues: Does the dummy...

To date, an overwhelming majority of the literature has addressed mean relationships between producer and consumer price inflation. Granger et al. (1986) represent the only attempt to investigate second moment relationships. We examine the consumer--producer price relationship employing a...

The present paper examines the impact that budget deficits exercise on economic growth in the United States. Using a simple growth model that includes a variety of public policy variables, we provide Instrumental Variables (IV) estimates that indicate growth in the United States over time. The...

This study empirically identifies factors that influenced geographic differentials in the bank closing rate in the United States over the period 1982 through 1990. Given the presence of censored data, the model adopts the tobit estimation procedure. The bank closing rate in a state is found to...

This brief note develops a pedagogically useful new (albeit still rudimentary) way of teaching the free-rider concept. This simple approach applies the familiar tools of indifference curve analysis to the topic at hand. Since so many students of economics are well versed in indifference curves,...

Several papers have attempted to estimate and document the impact of conflict on numerous education, health and socioeconomic outcomes. One lesson from this research is the heterogeneity in the effect of violent conflict across and within countries. In this paper we attempt to estimate the...