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作者:Svensson, J
作者单位:Stockholm University; The World Bank; Centre for Economic Policy Research - UK
摘要:This paper uses a unique data set on corruption containing quantitative information on bribe payments of Ugandan firms. The data have two striking features: not all firms report that they need to pay bribes, and there is considerable variation in reported graft across firms facing similar institutions/policies. We propose an explanation for these patterns, based on differences in control rights and bargaining strength across firms. Consistent with the control rights/ bargaining hypotheses, we ...
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作者:Piketty, T; Saez, E
作者单位:Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:This paper presents new homogeneous series on top shares of income and wages from 1913 to 1998 in the United States using individual tax returns data. Top income and wages shares display a U-shaped pattern over the century. Our series suggest that the large shocks that capital owners experienced during the Great Depression and World War II have had a permanent effect on top capital incomes. We argue that steep progressive income and estate taxation may have prevented large fortunes from fully ...
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作者:La Porta, R; Lopez-De-Silanes, F; Zamarripa, G
作者单位:Harvard University; Yale University
摘要:In many countries, banks lend to firms controlled by the bank's owners. We examine the benefits of related lending using a newly assembled data set for Mexico. Related lending is prevalent (20 percent of commercial loans) and takes place on better terms than arm's-length lending (annual interest rates are 4 percentage points lower). Related loans are 33 percent more likely to default and, when they do, have lower recovery rates (30 percent less) than unrelated ones. The evidence for Mexico in ...
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作者:Ariely, D; Loewenstein, G; Prelec, D
作者单位:Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); Carnegie Mellon University
摘要:In six experiments we show that initial valuations of familiar products and simple hedonic experiences are strongly influenced by arbitrary anchors (sometimes derived from a person's social security number). Because subsequent valuations are also coherent with respect to salient differences in perceived quality or quantity of these products and experiences, the entire pattern of valuations can easily create an illusion of order, as if it is being generated by stable underlying preferences. The...
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作者:Carroll, CD
作者单位:Johns Hopkins University
摘要:Economists have long emphasized the importance of expectations in determining macroeconomic outcomes. Yet there has been almost no recent effort to model actual empirical expectations data; instead, macroeconomists usually simply assume that expectations are rational. This paper shows that while empirical household expectations are not rational in the usual sense, expectational dynamics are well captured by a model in which households' views derive from news reports of the views of professiona...