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作者：Georgiadis, George; Powell, Michael
作者单位：Northwestern University
摘要：This paper aims to improve the practical applicability of the classic theory of incentive contracts under moral hazard. We establish conditions under which the information provided by an A/B test of incentive contracts is sufficient for answering the question of how best to improve a status quo incentive contract, given a priori knowledge of the agent's monetary preferences. We assess the empirical relevance of this result using data from DellaVigna and Pope's (2018) study of a variety of ince...
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作者：Rossi, Federico
作者单位：University of Warwick
摘要：I study how the relative efficiency of high- and low-skill labor varies across countries. Using microdata for countries at different stages of development, I document that differences in relative quantities and wages are consistent with high-skill workers being relatively more productive in rich countries. I exploit variation in the skill premia of foreign-educated migrants to discriminate between two possible drivers of this pattern: cross-country differences in the skill bias of technology a...
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作者：Marone, Victoria R.; Sabety, Adrienne
作者单位：University of Texas System; University of Texas Austin; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Notre Dame
摘要：We study the welfare effects of offering choice over coverage levels-vertical choice-in regulated health insurance markets. We emphasize that heterogeneity in efficient coverage level is not sufficient to motivate choice. When premiums cannot reflect individuals' costs, it may not be in consumers'best interest to select their efficient coverage level. We show that vertical choice is efficient only if consumers with higher willingness to pay have a higher efficient level of coverage. We investi...
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作者：Aydin, Deniz
作者单位：Washington University (WUSTL)
摘要：In a field experiment that constructs a randomized credit limit shock, participants borrow to spend 11 cents on the dollar in the first quarter and 28 cents by the third year. Effects extend to those far from the limit, those who had the new limits as available credit, and those with a liquid asset buffer. In the short-run, flexible and installment contracts are used in tandem, with unconstrained using installments more. Long-run borrowing is predominantly using installments. Near limits, part...
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作者：Cai, Zhifeng; Heathcote, Jonathan
作者单位：Rutgers University System; Rutgers University New Brunswick; Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Minneapolis
摘要：This paper evaluates the role of rising income inequality in explaining observed growth in college tuition. We develop a competitive model of the college market, in which college quality depends on instructional expenditure and the average ability of admitted students. An innovative feature of our model is that it allows for a continuous distribution of college quality. We find that observed increases in US income inequality can explain more than half of the observed rise in average net tuitio...
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作者：Garcia-Jimeno, Camilo; Iglesias, Angel; Yildirim, Pinar
作者单位：Federal Reserve System - USA; Federal Reserve Bank - Chicago; University of Pennsylvania; University of Pennsylvania
摘要：How do social interactions shape collective action, and how are they mediated by networked information technologies? We answer these questions studying the Temperance Crusade, a wave of anti-liquor protest activity spreading across 29 states between 1873 and 1874. Relying on exogenous variation in network links generated by rail -road accidents, we provide causal evidence of social interactions driving the diffusion of the movement, mediated by rail and telegraph information about neighboring ...
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作者：Lamadon, Thibaut; Mogstad, Magne; Setzler, Bradley
作者单位：University of Chicago; Statistics Norway; National Bureau of Economic Research; Pennsylvania Commonwealth System of Higher Education (PCSHE); Pennsylvania State University; Pennsylvania State University - University Park
摘要：We quantify the importance of imperfect competition in the US labor market by estimating the size of labor market rents earned by American firms and workers. We construct a matched employer-employee panel dataset by combining the universe of US business and worker tax records for the period 2001-2015. Using this panel data, we identify and estimate an equilibrium model of the labor market with two-sided heterogeneity where workers view firms as imperfect substitutes because of heterogeneous pr...
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作者：Bergemann, Dirk; Brooks, Benjamin; Morris, Stephen
作者单位：Yale University; University of Chicago; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要：We describe a methodology for making counterfactual predictions in settings where the information held by strategic agents and the distribution of payoff-relevant states of the world are unknown. The analyst observes behavior assumed to be rationalized by a Bayesian model, in which agents maximize expected utility, given partial and differential information about the state. A counterfactual prediction is desired about behavior in another strategic setting, under the hypothesis that the distrib...
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作者：Butera, Luigi; Metcalfe, Robert; Morrison, William; Taubinsky, Dmitry
作者单位：Copenhagen Business School; University of Southern California; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要：Public recognition is frequently used to motivate desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects-such as costs of shame or gains from pride are rarely measured. We develop a portable empirical methodology for measuring and monetizing social image utility, and we deploy it in experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal image payoffs. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains, while...
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作者：Jensen, Anders
作者单位：Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：This paper builds a new microdatabase that covers 100 countries at all income levels and long-run time series in the United States (1870-2010) and Mexico (1960-2010) to document how the modern tax system arises over development. I establish a new set of stylized facts, which show that the income tax exemption threshold decreases in the income distribution as a country develops, tracking growth in the employee share of employment that occurs gradually further down the income distribution. Addit...
