We analyze the dynamics of neighbourhood watch programs in a local interaction framework. Agents can watch their neighbours' houses and thus deter burglars from breaking in....

This paper considers the optimal communication spanning tree (OCST) problem. Previouswork analyzed features of high-quality solutions and found that edges in optimal solutions havelow weight and point towards the center of a tree. Consequently, integrating this problem-specific knowledge into a...

The theme of this year's WDR is how to structure institutions to bring about an effectively functioning market economy. There is no question that political institutions play a key role here. In most countries political institutions determine the rules of access to considerable discretionary...

In a punishment experiment, we separate the demand for punishmentin general from a possible demand to conduct punishmentpersonally. Subjects experience an unfair split of their earnings froma real effort task and have to decide on the punishment of the personwho determines the distribution....

The “End Racial Profiling Act of 2001” (ERPA) states that “nolaw enforcement agent or law enforcement agency shall engage in racial profiling” andmandates states to “collect detailed data on stops, searches, seizures, and arrests.” Wedevelop a stylized dynamic model of highway...

The Paper explores how fiscal policy can be made both more disciplined and more counter-cyclical. It first examines whether the decline of public debts observed in the OECD area during the 1990s can be explained either by less activism or by a priority towards consolidation. It then argues that...