Information asymmetries are important in theory but difficult to identify in practice. We estimate the empirical importance of adverse selection and moral hazard in a consumer credit market using a new field experiment methodology. We randomized 58,000 direct mail offers issued by a major South...

A bidding rotating savings and credit association (Rosca) is modeled as a sequence of symmetricindependent-private-value auctions with price-proportional benefits to bidders. We estimate a structural econometric model which, by introducing an altruistic component into each bidder's utility...

This paper develops a theoretically consistent technique for valuing non-marketed local attributes using compensating income differentials in the absence of housing market data. The individual's indirect utility function is identified with aggregate data describing equilibrium location...

In the 1980s, many U.S. cities initiated programs reserving a proportion of government contracts for minority-owned businesses. The staggered introduction of these set-aside programs is used to estimate their impacts on the self-employment and employment rates of African-American men. Black...

This paper investigates the impact of the history of crises on macroeconomic performance. We first study the impact of past banking crises on the probability of a future banking crisis. Applying data for 1980 - 2010 for all countries for which the required information is available, controlling...

Surprisingly little is known about the importance of mortgage payment size for default, as efforts to measure the treatment effect of rate increases or loan modifications are confounded by borrower selection. We study a sample of hybrid adjustable-rate mortgages that have experienced large rate...

In a recent set of influential papers, researchers have argued that residential mortgage foreclosures reduce the sale prices of nearby properties. We revisit this issue using a more robust identification strategy combined with new data that contain information on the location of properties...

Im März 1999 hat der Deutsche Bundestag das "Gesetz zum Einstieg in die ökologische Steuerreform", im November 1999 das Gesetz zur "Fortführung der ökologischen Steuerreform" beschlossen. Der vorliegende Beitrag analysiert die zu erwartenden Verteilungswirkungen der fünf Reformstufen auf...

The paper investigates the impact of ownership concentration on the likelihood that firms are involved in innovative activities or invest in research and development. We find that more dispersed ownership significantly increases the probability that a firm is engaged in innovation or invests in...