Many scholars over the years have claimed that there is race discrimination in the detention decision because more blacks are detained pretrial than whites charged with the same crimes. Studies suggest that judges‘ perceptions using stereotypes of minorities determine whether they deem a...

The intergenerational income elasticity is a crucial measure of income mobility. In this paper we develop a structural model to examine the channels through which this elasticity operates. Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, we separately identify the human capital and the...

There is ongoing interest in determining what predicts that a person will file bankruptcy. Past research has pointed to both a variety of acute shocks immediately before filing and the presence of substantial debt as risk factors for filing bankruptcy. We provide evidence on both fronts by using...

This paper develops a model of workers choosing legal or illegal employment, where legality is defined as abiding by the minimum wage and participating in a set of payroll taxes and mandated non-wage benefits. Alternatively, agents may opt to be legally or illegally self-employed. Enforcement of...