The research reported here gives priority to understanding the inter-temporal resource allocation requirements of a program of technological changes that could halt global warming by completing the transition to a "green" (zero net CO2- emission) production regime within the possibly brief...

The mobile applications (apps) industry has exhibited rapid entry and growth in the midst of a recession. Using unique data from the iPhone application ecosystem, we examine how the development of “killer apps” (apps appearing in the top grossing rank) varies by market and app...

Welfare programs are often implemented in-kind to promote outcomes that might not be realized under cash transfers. I use a randomized controlled trial of the Mexican government's Food Assistance Program ('PAL') to test whether this form of paternalism is necessary, comparing precisely measured...

I discuss a proposal to legislate a rule for monetary policy. The proposal modernizes laws first passed in the late 1970s, but largely discarded in 2000. It would thereby restore reporting and accountability requirements for the instruments of monetary policy. It would limit but not eliminate...

Using alternative measures of term lending rates and counterparty risk and a wide variety of econometric specifications, we find that counterparty risk has a robust significant effect on interest rate spreads in the term inter-bank loan markets. In contrast, we do not find comparably robust...

This article studies the optimal use of fines and imprisonment when an offender’s level of wealth is private information that cannot be observed by the enforcement authority. In a model in which there are two levels of wealth, I derive the optimal mix of sanctions, including the imprisonment...

This paper studies the long-term effect of business cycle, employment rate and employment growth rate on later wages and promotions. Using Swedish employer-employee match data, we find that workers who enter the labor market during a recovery phase of a business cycle (when the employment rate...

The United States currently has a communications policy in place that does not state clearly its own goals, yet applies regulations that greatly affect outcomes. A better communications policy would substitute markets for regulation as a way to determine both what is sold and what price is paid...

The Brazilian government has been pushing for changes to the United States’ extensive barriers to ethanol imports. However, removing these barriers would have uncertain consequences for the environment and regional development in Brazil. Expansion in sugarcane production required to produce...

Can conventional economic analysis help in defining and measuring the success of labor unions? In this paper, a general indicator of union welfare is proposed and particular expressions for the wage and employment objectives of unions are rearranged to derive measures of union success or...