Using a variety of datasets, we document some basic facts about the current subprime crisis. Many of these facts are applicable to the crisis at a national level, while some illustrate problems relevant only to Massachusetts and New England. We conclude by discussing some outstanding questions...

There is a longstanding concern that material incentives might undermine prosocial motivation, leading to a decrease in blood donations rather than an increase. This paper provides an empirical test of how material incentives affect blood donations in a large-scale field experiment spanning...

This paper surveys experimental literature relating to mergers. We put particular emphasis on discussing whether this literature addresses the issues that are relevant for competition policy. We also include some suggestions as to how the fit between the experiments and the requirements of...

We use a unique panel data set to analyze price setting in restaurants in Switzerland 1977-1993, for items known to have sticky prices. The macroeconomic environment during this time period allows us to examine how firms adjust prices at low (0%) and fairly high (7%) inflation. Our results...

Most previous studies on intertemporal labor supply found very small or insignificant substitution effects. It is not clear, however, whether these results are due to institutional constraints on workers' labor supply choices or whether the behavioral assumptions of the standard life cycle model...

Workers’ wages are not set in a spot market. Instead, the wages of most workers — at least those who do not switch jobs — typically change only annually and are mediated by a complex set of institutions and factors such as contracts, unions, standards of fairness, minimum wage policy,...