This paper analyzes how monetary policy in an overlapping generations model can be designed to avoid inflationary consequences of anticipated changes of monetary policies. Avoiding these inflationary consequences will require a once and for all increase (decrease) in monetary growth immediately...

We examine the consequences when the public is unsure about the ability of governments to foresee the effects of decisions. Governments with much information should invest either immediately or never. Governments that are not well informed should wait for better information. But since...

When politicians are provided with insufficient incentives by the democratic election mechanism, social welfare can be improved by threshold contracts. A threshold contract stipulates the performance level that a politician must reach in order to obtain the right to stand for re-election. 'Read...

Although they would yield social benefits, some political projects may not be implemented in democracies. Prominent examples are the reform of European labour markets, the reduction of government debt or the reduction of greenhouse gases. We suggest introducing political contracts to make...

We examine whether the publication of the individual voting records of central-bank council members is socially desirable when the preferences of the central bankers differ. We identify two positive effects of transparency. First, central bankers whose preferences differ from those of society...

In this paper we study how promoting product market competition by reducing mark-ups or by increasing productivity are able to complement labor market reforms. We use a simple general equilibrium model with different types of labor. The bottom-line of the paper is that product market reforms...

We design a global refunding scheme as a new international approach to address climate change. Participating in the global refunding system requires an initial payment. It allows each country to set its carbon emission tax, while aggregate tax revenues are partially refunded to member countries...

This paper investigates how families decide how juveniles use their time. The problem is analyzed in three variations: (i) a ‘decentralized’ scheme, in which parents control the main budget, but their children dispose of their time as they see fit, together with any earnings from work on...

In this paper we study the incentives for basic-research investments by governments in a globalized world. For this purpose, we develop a two-country Schumpeterian growth model in which each country chooses its basic-research investments. We find that a country's basic-research investments...

In this paper we examine the impact of tax contracts as a novel institution on elections, policies, and welfare. We consider a political game in which three parties compete to form the government and voters may behave strategically. Parties have policy preferences about the level of public-good...