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作者:Shue, Kelly; Luttmer, Erzo F. P.
作者单位:Harvard University; Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:If voters have negligible cognition costs, ballot layout should not affect election outcomes. We explore deviations from rational voting using quasi-random variation in candidate name placement on ballots from the 2003 California recall election. We find that minor candidates' vote shares almost double when their names are adjacent to the names of major candidates. All else equal, vote share gains are larger in precincts with higher percentages of poorly educated, poor, or third-party voters. ...
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作者:Balas, Aron; La Porta, Rafael; Lopez-de-Silanes, Florencio; Shleifer, Andrei
作者单位:Dartmouth College; Universite Catholique de Lille; EDHEC Business School; Harvard University
摘要:Simeon Djankov et al. (2003) introduce a measure of the quality of contract enforcement-the formalism of civil procedure for 109 countries as of 2000. For 40 of these countries, we compute procedural formalism every year since 1950. We find that large differences in procedural formalism between common and civil law countries existed in 1950 and widened by 2000. For this area of law, the findings are inconsistent with the hypothesis that national legal systems are converging, and support the vi...
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作者:Ferreyra, Maria Marta
作者单位:Carnegie Mellon University
摘要:In this paper, I develop an empirical framework for the analysis of large-scale policies, and apply it to study the effects of school finance reform on the Detroit metropolitan area. Exploiting school finance reform in Michigan in 1994, I estimate a general equilibrium model of multiple jurisdictions with 1990 data from Detroit, predict the 2000 equilibrium, and compare this prediction with 2000 data to validate the model. I conduct counterfactual simulations using the estimates According to m...
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作者:Cattaneo, Matias D.; Galiani, Sebastian; Gertler, Paul J.; Martinez, Sebastian; Titiunik, Rocio
作者单位:University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Washington University (WUSTL); University of California System; University of California Berkeley; The World Bank; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要:We investigate the impact of a large-scale Mexican program to replace dirt floors with cement floors on child health and adult happiness. We find that replacing dirt floors with cement significantly improves he health of young children measured by decreases in the incidence of parasitic infestations, diarrhea, and the prevalence of anemia, and an improvement in children's cognitive development. Additionally, we find significant improvements in adult welfare measured by increased satisfaction w...
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作者:Chetty, Raj
作者单位:Harvard University
摘要:Martin Feldstein's (1999) widely used taxable income formula for deadweight loss assumes the marginal social cost of evasion and avoidance equals the tax rate. This condition is likely to be violated in practice for two reasons. First, some of the costs of evasion and avoidance are transfers to other agents. Second, some individuals overestimate the costs of evasion and avoidance. In such situations, excess burden depends on a weighted average of the taxable income and total earned income elas...
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作者:Desai, Mihir A.; Foley, C. Fritz; Hines, James R., Jr.
作者单位:Harvard University; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan
摘要:Do firms investing abroad simultaneously reduce their domestic activity? This paper analyzes the relationship between the domestic and foreign operations of US manufacturing firms between 1982 and 2004 by instrumenting for changes in foreign operations with GDP growth rates of the foreign countries in which they invest. Estimates produced using this instrument indicate that 10 percent greater foreign investment is associated with 2.6 percent greater domestic investment, and 10 percent greater ...
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作者:Meer, Jonathan; Rosen, Harvey S.
作者单位:Stanford University; Princeton University
摘要:We study alumni contributions to an anonymous research university. If alumni believe donations will increase the likelihood of their child's admission, and if this belief helps motivate their giving, then the pattern of giving should vary systematically with the ages of their children, whether the children ultimately apply to the university, and the admissions outcome. We call this pattern the child cycle of alumni giving. The evidence is consistent with the child-cycle pattern. Thus, while al...
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作者:Cellini, Stephanie Riegg
作者单位:George Washington University
摘要:This study assesses the impact of an increase in funding for public community colleges on the market for two-year college education, considering both the effect on community college enrollments and on the number of proprietary schools in a market. I draw on a new administrative dataset of for-profit colleges in California and votes on local community college bond referenda to implement a unique regression discontinuity design. The results suggest that bond passage diverts students from the pri...
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作者:Li, Shanjun; Timmins, Christopher; von Haefen, Roger H.
作者单位:State University of New York (SUNY) System; Stony Brook University; Duke University; North Carolina State University
摘要:Exploiting a rich dataset of passenger vehicle registrations in 20 US MSAs from 1997 to 2005, we examine the effects of gasoline prices on the automotive fleet's composition. We find that high gasoline prices affect fleet fuel economy through two channels: shifting new auto purchases towards more fuel-efficient vehicles, and speeding the scrappage of older, less fuel-efficient used vehicles. Policy simulations suggest that a 10 percent increase in gasoline prices from 2005 levels will generate...
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作者:Barrow, Lisa; Markman, Lisa; Rouse, Cecilia Elena
作者单位:Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; Princeton University; Princeton University; Princeton University
摘要:We present results from a randomized study of a well-defined use of computers in schools, a popular instructional computer program for pre-algebra and algebra. We primarily assess the program using a test designed to target pre-algebra and algebra skills. Students randomly assigned to computer-aided instruction score significantly higher on a pre-algebra and algebra test than students randomly assigned to traditional instruction. We hypothesize that this effectiveness arises from increased ind...