Standard majority-voting models predict that redistribution is positively linked to the mean-to-median income ratio but empirical evidence is mixed. This paper shows that the different empirical reactions to rising mean-to-median income ratios can be rationalized in a simple...

Preventive policy measures such as bailouts often pass parliament very narrowly. We present a model of asymmetric information between politicians and voters which rationalizes this narrow parliamentary outcome. A successful preventive policy impedes the verification of its own necessity. When...

Estimates of Frisch labor-supply elasticities are larger for women than for men. We show that standard labor-supply regressions tend to overestimate this gender difference. In couples with joint borrowing constraints, wage-rate fluctuations of the secondary earner are less important for the...

We propose a new explanation for differences and changes in labor supply by gender and marital status, and in particular for the increase in married women's labor supply over time. We argue that this increase as well as the relative constancy of other groups' hours are optimal reactions to...

We propose a new explanation for differences and changes in labor supply by gender and marital status, and in particular for the increase in married women's labor supply over time. We argue that this increase as well as the relative constancy of other groups' hours are optimal reactions to...

Standard models of voting on redistribution generate a clear-cut prediction: redistribution increases in income skewness. (the Meltzer-Richard hypothesis) Empirical evidence on this issue is mixed. Changes in income skewness are often accompanied by developments in redistribution into the...

This paper provides an empirical comparison of the sticky-price and the sticky information Phillips curves on the basis of second moments of inflation for six countries, the US, the UK, Germany, France, Canada, and Japan. We evaluate the models' abilities to match empirical second moments of...

Welfare-state measures often tend to persist even when they seem to have become suboptimal due to changes in the economic environment. This paper proposes an information-based explanation for the persistence of the welfare state. I present a structural model where rationally inattentive voters...

Despite a strong theoretical prediction that income skewness and redistribution should be positively linked, empirical evidence on this issue is mixed. This paper argues that it is important to distinguish between sources of changes in income skewness. Two sources of such changes are discussed:...

This paper empirically compares sticky-price and sticky-information Phillips curves considering inflation dynamics in six countries (US, UK, Germany, France, Canada, and Japan). We evaluate the models' abilities to match empirical second moments of inflation. Under baseline calibrations, the two...