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作者：Funk, Patricia; Gathmann, Christina
作者单位：University of Mannheim; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Pompeu Fabra University
摘要：Using new historical data from Swiss cantons, we estimate the effect of direct democracy on government spending. We use fixed effects to control for unobserved heterogeneity and new instruments to address potential endogeneity concerns. We find that direct democracy constrains canton spending but its effect is more modest than previously suggested. The instrumental variable estimates show that a mandatory budget referendum reduces canton expenditures by 12%. Lowering signature requirements for...
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作者：Benjamin, Dwayne; Brandt, Loren; Giles, John
作者单位：The World Bank; University of Toronto
摘要：We estimate the relationship between village inequality and subsequent income growth for households in rural China. Using a longitudinal household-level survey spanning 19872002, we find that households from higher inequality villages experienced lower income growth. However, the effect of local inequality fades by 2002. Our evidence points to unobserved village institutions at the time of economic reforms, associated with household access to higher income activities, as the source of the link...
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作者：Harding, Torfinn; Javorcik, Beata S.
作者单位：University of Oxford; Statistics Norway; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
摘要：This study uses newly collected data on 124 countries to examine the effects of investment promotion on inflows of US foreign direct investment (FDI). We test whether sectors explicitly targeted by investment promotion agencies in their efforts to attract FDI receive more investment in the post-targeting period, relative to the pre-targeting period and non-targeted sectors. The results of our analysis are consistent with investment promotion leading to higher FDI flows to countries in which re...
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作者：Rubin, Jared
作者单位：California State University System; California State University Fullerton
摘要：Why was economic development retarded in the Middle East relative to Western Europe, despite the Middle East being far ahead for centuries? A theoretical model inspired and substantiated by the history of interest restrictions suggests that this outcome emanates in part from the greater degree to which early Islamic political authorities derived legitimacy from religious authorities. This entailed a feedback mechanism in Europe in which the rise of commerce led to the relaxation of interest re...
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作者：Kirchkamp, Oliver; Reiss, J. Philipp
作者单位：Maastricht University; Friedrich Schiller University of Jena
摘要：Deviations from risk-neutral equilibrium bids in auctions can be related to inconsistent expectations with correct best replies or correct expectations but deviant best replies (e.g. because of risk aversion, regret, quantal-response mistakes). To distinguish between these two explanations, we use a novel experimental procedure and study expectations together with best replies in symmetric and asymmetric auctions. We extensively test the internal validity of this setup. We find that deviations...
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作者：Mitchell, James; Pain, Nigel; Riley, Rebecca
作者单位：University of Leicester; Organisation for Economic Co-operation & Development (OECD)
摘要：A heterogeneous panel-based Bayesian model averaging approach is used to identify the robust economic and policy drivers of international migration to the UK from 14 different source regions over 19802007. Around three-quarters of the increase in net immigration over the last decade, which is particularly pronounced for selected source regions, is associated with structural change, which may be attributed to UK and foreign immigration policy. The remainder of the rise is largely explained by f...
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作者：Fabra, Natalia; von der Fehr, Nils-Henrik M.; de Frutos, Maria-Angeles
作者单位：Universidad Carlos III de Madrid; University of Oslo
摘要：The purpose of this study was to understand how market design affects market performance through its impact on investment incentives. For this purpose, we model capacity choices by two ex ante identical firms which compete in the product market. We analyse a number of different market design elements, including (i) two commonly used auction formats, the uniform-price and discriminatory auctions, (ii) price caps and (iii) bid duration. We find that although the discriminatory auction tends to l...
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作者：Cheron, Arnaud; Hairault, Jean-Olivier; Langot, Francois
作者单位：heSam Universite; Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne; Paris School of Economics; University of Maine System; University of Maine Orono; Universite Catholique de Lille; EDHEC Business School; IZA Institute Labor Economics
摘要：This study examines age-dependent employment protection by extending the theory of equilibrium unemployment to account for a finite working life-time. The potential employment gains related to employment protection are high for older workers. But higher firing taxes for older workers increase job destruction rates for younger generations. Furthermore, when firms cannot ex ante age-direct their search, the impact of each generation of unemployed workers on the average return on vacancies leads ...
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作者：Drelichman, Mauricio; Voth, Hans-Joachim
作者单位：ICREA; Pompeu Fabra University; University of British Columbia; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Centre de Recerca en Economia Internacional (CREI)
摘要：What sustained borrowing without third-party enforcement in the early days of sovereign lending? Philip II of Spain accumulated towering debts while stopping all payments to his lenders four times. How could the sovereign borrow much and default often? We argue that bankers ability to cut off Philip IIs access to smoothing services was key. A form of syndicated lending created cohesion among his Genoese bankers. As a result, lending moratoria were sustained through a cheat-the-cheater mechanis...
