-
作者：Fenske, James
作者单位：University of Oxford
摘要：State capacity matters for growth. I test Bates' explanation of pre-colonial African states. He argues that trade across ecological boundaries promoted states. I find that African societies in ecologically diverse environments had more centralized states. This is robust to reverse causation, omitted heterogeneity, and alternative interpretations of the link between diversity and states. The result survives including non-African societies. I test mechanisms connecting trade to states, and find ...
-
作者：Dal Bo, Ernesto; Tervio, Marko
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Aalto University
摘要：We present an infinite-horizon planner-doer model of moral standards, where individuals receive random temptations (such as bribe offers) and must decide which to resist. Individual actions depend both on conscious deliberation and on a type reflecting unconscious drives. Temptations yield consumption value, but confidence in being the type of person who resists temptations yields self-esteem. We identify conditions for individuals to build an introspective reputation for goodness (moral capit...
-
作者：Fischbacher, Urs; Foellmi-Heusi, Franziska
作者单位：University of Konstanz
摘要：We present a novel experimental design to measure honesty and lying. Participants receive a die which they roll privately. Since their payoff depends on the reported roll of the die, the subjects have an incentive to be dishonest and report higher numbers to get a higher payoff. This design has three advantages. First, cheating cannot be detected on the individual level, which reduces potential demand effects. Second, the method is very easy to implement. Third, the underlying true distributio...
-
作者：Carneiro, Pedro; Meghir, Costas; Parey, Matthias
作者单位：University of London; University College London; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Yale University; University of Essex
摘要：We study the intergenerational effects of maternal education on children's cognitive achievement, behavioral problems, grade repetition, and obesity, using matched data from the female participants of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and their children. We address the endogeneity of maternal schooling by instrumenting it with variation in schooling costs during the mother's adolescence. Our results show substantial intergenerational returns to education. Our data set all...
-
作者：Falk, Armin; Meier, Stephan; Zehnder, Christian
作者单位：University of Bonn; Columbia University; University of Lausanne
摘要：Social preference research has received considerable attention among economists in recent years. However, the empirical foundation of social preferences is largely based on laboratory experiments with self-selected students as participants. This is potentially problematic as students participating in experiments may behave systematically different than nonparticipating students or nonstudents. In this paper we empirically investigate whether laboratory experiments with student samples misrepre...
-
作者：Saint-Paul, Gilles
作者单位：Paris School of Economics; New York University; New York University Abu Dhabi
摘要：Abstract When policymakers and private agents use models, the economists who design the model have an incentive to alter it in order to influence outcomes in a fashion consistent with their own preferences. I discuss some consequences of the existence of such ideological bias. In particular, I analyze the role of measurement infrastructures such as national statistical institutes, the extent to which intellectual competition between different schools of thought may lead to polarization of view...
-
作者：Bandiera, Oriana; Barankay, Iwan; Rasul, Imran
作者单位：University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of Pennsylvania; University of London; University College London
摘要：Abstract Many organizations rely on teamwork, and yet field evidence on the impacts of team-based incentives remains scarce. Compared to individual incentives, team incentives can affect productivity by changing both workers' effort and team composition. We present evidence from a field experiment designed to evaluate the impact of rank incentives and tournaments on the productivity and composition of teams. Strengthening incentives, either through rankings or tournaments, makes workers more l...
-
作者：Blanchard, Olivier J.; Riggi, Marianna
作者单位：International Monetary Fund; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要：Abstract In the 1970s, large increases in the price of oil were associated with sharp decreases in output and large increases in inflation. In the 2000s, even larger increases in the price of oil were associated with much milder movements in output and inflation. Using a structural VAR approach, Blanchard and Gali (in J. Gali and M. Gertler (eds.) 2009, International Dimensions of Monetary Policy, University of Chicago Press, pp. 373-428) argued that this reflected a change in the causal relat...
-
作者：Gali, Jordi
作者单位：Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics
摘要：Abstract I revisit the General Theory's discussion of the role of wages in employment determination through the lens of the New Keynesian model. The analysis points to the key role played by the monetary policy rule in shaping the link between wages and employment, and in determining the welfare impact of enhanced wage flexibility. I show that the latter is not always welfare improving.
-
作者：Kube, Sebastian; Marechal, Michel Andre; Puppe, Clemens
作者单位：University of Bonn; University of Zurich; Helmholtz Association; Karlsruhe Institute of Technology
摘要：Employment contracts are often incomplete, leaving many responsibilities subject to workers' discretion. High work morale is therefore essential for sustaining voluntary cooperation and high productivity in firms. We conducted a field experiment to test whether workers reciprocate wage cuts and raises with low or high work productivity. Wage cuts had a detrimental and persistent impact on productivity, reducing average output by more than 20%. An equivalent wage increase, however, did not resu...
