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作者：POTERBA, JM; VENTI, SF; WISE, DA
作者单位：National Bureau of Economic Research; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Dartmouth College; Harvard University
摘要：During the late 1980s, contributions to 401(k) plans eclipsed contributions to Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) as the leading form of tax-deferred individual retirement saving in the United States. In this paper we describe patterns of participation in 401(k) plans, contrast these patterns with IRA participation, and evaluate the net impact of 401(k) contributions on personal saving. We find that 401(k) participation conditional on eligibility exceeds 60% at all income levels. In contras...
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作者：SPAGAT, M
摘要：Drawbacks of standard iterative planning algorithms include: (i) planner actions are just on-paper calculations, without direct economic consequences, and may converge very slowly; (ii) planners cannot act systematically on hunches and intuitions; and (iii) planners can observe unrealistically detailed information. These problems are addressed through a Bayesian learning model. It is shown, in sharp contrast to the standard literature, that planners will not necessarily settle in the long run ...
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作者：HOLTZEAKIN, D; SELDEN, TM
作者单位：National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：We examine the relationship between economic development and carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas central to global warming predictions. Estimates derived from global panel data suggest a diminishing marginal propensity to emit (MPE) carbon dioxide as GDP per capita rises. Despite this, global carbon dioxide emissions growth will continue at 1.8 percent per annum for the foreseeable future, a result that is not sensitive to average output growth. Instead, emissions growth continues becau...
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作者：DIAMOND, P; SHESHINSKI, E
作者单位：Hebrew University of Jerusalem
摘要：This paper analyzes optimal disability and retirement (or welfare) benefits with imperfect disability evaluation (with some able workers judged disabled and some disabled workers judged able). Thus the levels of both disability and retirement benefits affect labor supply. With anyone not working eligible for retirement benefits, we analyze the optimal structure of benefits for a given disability screening mechanism and briefly consider the problem of optimal evaluations of disability evidence....
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作者：FRIEDMAN, D; WITTMAN, D
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Santa Cruz
摘要：In recent elections, voters supported initiatives to limit the number of terms that their representatives may serve, yet at the same time, overwhelmingly re-elected their incumbents. We provide a theoretical explanation for this and other puzzles associated with voting on term limitations. The pattern of voting on term limits can be explained by the desire to redistribute power from one party to another, from one branch of government to another, and from districts with long-term incumbents to ...
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作者：BOND, SR; DEVEREUX, MP
作者单位：Keele University; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
摘要：This paper extends the results of Boadway and Bruce (Journal of Public Economics, 1984, 24, 231-239) and Fane (Journal of Public Economics, 1987, 33, 95-105) to describe a tax on business profits which is neutral with respect to investment and wind-up decisions, and default outcomes, under uncertainty and bankruptcy risk. The tax base allows deductions for depreciation and the cost of finance, but requires knowledge of neither true economic depreciation nor the firm's required rate of return. ...
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作者：MARKUSEN, JR; MOREY, ER; OLEWILER, N
作者单位：National Bureau of Economic Research; Simon Fraser University
摘要：A two-region model is presented in which an imperfectly competitive firm produces a good with increasing returns at the plant level. Production of the good causes local pollution. The firm decides whether to maintain plants in both regions, serve both regions from a single plant or shut down. If the disutility of pollution is high enough, the two regions will compete by increasing their environmental taxes (standards) until the polluting firm is driven from the market. Alternatively, if the di...
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作者：PASHARDES, P
摘要：In the context of a rank-3 demand system equivalence scales measuring the cost of demographic characteristics independently of the base utility level can be identified from cross-section data without demographic separability restrictions. Although this can also be achieved with a rank-2 demand system that contains a nonlinear log expenditure term in its budget shares, tests performed in a nested framework suggest that the rank-3 demand system approach is empirically superior. The informative s...
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作者：HAUSMAN, JA; LEONARD, GK; MCFADDEN, D
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要：A two-stage budgeting approach can often be taken when analyzing consumer choice situations. In this paper we examine the particular situation where a consumer makes purchases of a discrete commodity of which there are a number of brands. In the first stage, the consumer decides how many purchases to make; in the second stage, the consumer decides how to allocate these purchases across brands. Our econometric approach to this type of situation uses a utility-consistent, combined discrete choic...
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作者：ARMSTRONG, M; COWAN, S; VICKERS, J
作者单位：University of Oxford; University of Southampton
摘要：This paper analyzes profit-maximizing nonlinear pricing by a firm that is subject to price cap regulation. Two forms of regulatory constraint are considered: (i) a cap on the firm's average revenue, and (ii) a constraint that the firm must continue to offer each consumer the option of buying at the uniform price. Optimal nonlinear price schedules in these regimes are shown to have simple characterizations that are related to the nonlinear tariffs that an unregulated monopolist would charge. Of...
