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作者：Durlauf, Steven N.; Kourtellos, Andros; Tan, Chih Ming
作者单位：University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; University of Cyprus; Tufts University
摘要：This article investigates the strength of empirical evidence for various growth theories when there is model uncertainty with respect to the correct growth model. Using model averaging methods, we find little evidence that so-called fundamental growth theories play an important role in explaining aggregate growth. In contrast, we find strong evidence for macroeconomic policy effects and a role for unexplained regional heterogeneity, as well as some evidence of parameter heterogeneity in the ag...
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作者：Maeda, Akira
作者单位：Kyoto University
摘要：This article develops a model of optimal lottery design for public financing, on the assumption that economic agents view buying lottery tickets as a form of entertainment. Given that lotteries are optimally designed, it offers two findings: (1) the fundraising potential of a lottery is independent of its type (specifically, of whether it is a fixed-prize type or a pari mutuel); and (2) the ratio of the optimal winning prize amount in each prize class to total lottery sales is equalised to the...
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作者：Dee, Thomas S.
作者单位：Swarthmore College; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：One conjectured benefit of a marriage-like legal status for same-sex couples is a reduction in the incidence of sexually transmitted infections (STI). In this study, I discuss how such a policy might influence risky sexual behaviour and STI rates. I also present reduced-form empirical evidence on whether same-sex partnership laws have reduced STI rates, using country-level panel data from Europe. The results suggest that these laws led to statistically significant reductions in syphilis but no...
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作者：Temin, Peter; Voth, Hans-Joachim
作者单位：Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT); National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要：This article studies the effects of interest rate restrictions on loan allocation. The British government tightened the usury laws in 1714, reducing the maximum permissible interest rate from 6% to 5%. A sample of individual loan transactions reveals that average loan size and minimum loan size increased strongly, while access to credit worsened for those with little 'social capital'. Collateralised credits, which had accounted for a declining share of total lending, returned to their former r...
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作者：Akitoby, Bernardin; Stratmann, Thomas
作者单位：George Mason University
摘要：We examine the effect of fiscal policy on sovereign risk spreads and investigate whether the interaction of fiscal variables with political institutions affect financial markets. Using panel data from emerging market countries, we find that revenue-based adjustment lowers spreads more than spending-based adjustment. Financial markets also react to the composition of spending. Cuts in current spending lower spreads more than cuts in investment. We show that debt-financed spending increases sove...
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作者：Levy, Haim
作者单位：Hebrew University of Jerusalem
摘要：Expected Utility Theory, Rank Dependent Expected Utility and Cumulative Prospect Theory imply no First Degree Stochastic Dominance (FSD) violations. Prospect Theory and Configural Weight models either allow for FSD violation or even predict this phenomenon. I find experimentally that FSD violations are not significant, and hence conclude that they are due to bounded rationality rather than to a systematic and predictable effect. Moreover, the more transparent the FSD, the less violations are o...
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作者：Ermisch, John; Pronzato, Chiara
作者单位：University of Essex
摘要：A large proportion of divorced and separated fathers form new partnerships. The new partner's preferences are not likely to put much weight on expenditures on the man's children from his previous union. Thus, his own and his partner's income would have different impacts on his child support payments if partners' relative incomes affect bargaining power in household decisions. This article exploits within-father variation in the British Household Panel Survey (1991-2005) to estimate the impacts...
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作者：Nosbusch, Yves
作者单位：University of London; London School Economics & Political Science
摘要：The government faces a trade-off between the benefits of tax smoothing and an associated increase in expected interest costs when choosing its optimal debt portfolio. The article solves for optimal policies in an incomplete markets model where the government uses two debt instruments, long-term and short-term non-contingent, nominal bonds. In this setup the basic prescription is to borrow long and invest short even though equilibrium expected interest costs are higher on long-term debt. The re...
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作者：Baharad, Eyal; Nitzan, Shmuel
作者单位：University of Haifa; Bar Ilan University
摘要：This study shows that distortion of probabilities is a possible reason for rent under-dissipation in contests with relatively small number of participants. Such distortion may also result, however, in over-dissipation of the contested rent. Focusing on contests with homogeneous contestants and the commonly studied contest success function, our main results clarify under what circumstances (i) rents are more under-dissipated relative to the standard situation where probabilities are not distort...
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作者：Gergaud, Olivier; Ginsburgh, Victor
作者单位：Universite de Reims Champagne-Ardenne; Universite Libre de Bruxelles; Universite Catholique Louvain
摘要：We study whether quality assessments made by wine experts and by consumers (based on prices obtained at auction between 1980 and 1992) can be explained by variables describing endowments (land characteristics, exposures of vineyards) and technologies (from grape varieties and picking, to bottled wines). However, since technological choices are likely to depend on endowments, the effects can only be identified using an instrumental variables approach. We show that technological choices affect q...
