This paper extends Hopenhayn and Rogerson's analysis of firing taxes by introducing a flexible form of capital and considering transitionary dynamics. The paper finds that capital is not important for understanding the long run and welfare effects of firing taxes. However, capital is crucial for...

Plant locations in the U.S. auto industry have been moving southward for some time now. This paper utilizes a comprehensive dataset of the U.S. auto industry and focuses on plant location decisions of auto supplier plants that were opened less than 15 years ago in the U.S. We find that...

We use data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey from 1980-2003 combined with item specific Consumer Price Index data to calculate monthly chain-weighted inflation measures for thirteen different demographic groups and for the overall urban population from 1981-2004. We find that the inflation...

This paper investigates the impact of the relationship between a small firm and its lender on the interest rate paid by the firm. I examine detailed data on loans made by small business investment companies (SBICs) to small firms between 1986 and 1991, and my estimates imply that, other things...

Economists have long viewed recessions as contributing to increasing inequality. However, this conclusion is largely based on data from a period in which inequality was increasing over time. This paper examines the connection between long-run trends and cyclical variation in earnings inequality....

The self-employed are a heterogeneous group. Some are self-employed because they are good at it, while others are self-employed because they cannot find a better paying salaried job. Data from the CPS for prime age males show that workers are almost twice as likely to enter self-employment from...

We find that wealthier and more educated immigrants are more likely to make use of basic banking services and other formal financial services. Holding these (and other) factors constant, we find immigrants from countries with more effective institutions are more likely to have a relationship...

This paper develops a model of the credit market where the equilibrium lending mechanism, as well as the economy's aggregate investment and output, are endogenously determined. It focuses on two crucial elements. One is the micro theory of optimal lending mechanism. Instead of imposing a...

This paper examines two qualitative rules of thumb, frequently invoked in discussions of bank regulatory policy. The first, that equity holders prefer more risk to less, derives from a result in option pricing theory, that an option's value increases monotonically with the riskiness of the...

In Japan, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is widely used as a measure of inflation or the cost of living. The CPI is constructed by using a fixed-weight Laspeyres formula. This formula is used mainly because of its ease of calculation and comprehension, thus limiting the total cost of...