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作者：Rigbi, Oren
作者单位：Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
摘要：Usury laws cap the interest rates that lenders can charge. Using data from Prosper.com, an online lending marketplace, I investigate the effects of these laws. The key to my empirical strategy is that there was initially substantial variability in states' interest rate caps, ranging from 6% to 36%. A behind-the-scenes change in loan origination, however, suddenly increased the cap to 36%. The main findings of the study are that higher interest rate caps increase the probability that a loan wil...
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作者：Billmeier, Andreas; Nannicini, Tommaso
作者单位：Bocconi University
摘要：We use a transparent statistical methodology for data-driven case studies-the synthetic control method-to investigate the impact of economic liberalization on real GDP per capita in a worldwide sample of countries. Economic liberalization is measured by a widely used indicator that captures the scope of the market in the economy. The methodology compares the postliberalization GDP trajectory of treated economies with the trajectory of a combination of similar but untreated economies. We find t...
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作者：Rothstein, Donna S.
作者单位：United States Department of Labor
摘要：This paper investigates whether breastfeeding affects 5- to 6-year old children's cognitive development using three U.S. longitudinal data sets. The results for the full samples roughly point to a dose-response effect of breastfeeding on children's cognitive outcomes, with breastfeeding six months or more associated with about one-tenth of a standard deviation increase in cognitive test scores. The breastfeeding effects do not appear to be due to differences in maternal employment, cognitive a...
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作者：Wunsch, Conny
作者单位：Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; IZA Institute Labor Economics
摘要：This paper demonstrates how economic theory can be combined with state-of-the-art empirics to make quantitative statements about optimal policy. Using a large administrative data set for West Germany as well as nonparametric and semiparametric estimation techniques, I parameterize the model proposed by Pavoni and Violante (2005, 2007) for the optimal choice of different financial and activation measures for unemployed workers. The parameterized model is used to study the role of job search ass...
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作者：Chinn, Menzie D.; Wei, Shang-Jin
作者单位：University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University
摘要：It is often asserted that a flexible exchange rate regime would facilitate current account adjustment. Using data on over 170 countries over the 1971-2005 period, we examine this assertion systematically. We find no strong, robust, or monotonic relationship between exchange rate regime flexibility and the rate of current account reversion, even after accounting for the degree of economic development and trade and capital account openness. This finding presents a challenge to the Friedman (1953...
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作者：Eichholtz, Piet; Kok, Nils; Quigley, John M.
作者单位：Maastricht University; University of California System; University of California Berkeley
摘要：We analyze the economics of green building, finding that recent increases in the supply of green buildings and the volatility in property markets have not affected the returns to green buildings. We then analyze a large cross-section of office buildings, demonstrating that economic returns to energy-efficient buildings are substantial. Finally, we relate the economic premiums for green buildings to their relative efficiency in energy use-the attributes rated for thermal efficiency, as well as ...
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作者：Loupias, Claire; Sevestre, Patrick
作者单位：Universite Paris Saclay; European Central Bank; Bank of France; Paris School of Economics; heSam Universite; Universite Pantheon-Sorbonne
摘要：Using business survey data, we estimate an ordered probit model to explain the occurrence of producer price increases and decreases in the French manufacturing industry. Our results show that changes in intermediate input prices are the main driver of producer price changes. Changes in firms' labor costs, their production level, or the producer price index of their industry contribute less to the occurrence of price changes. Moreover, when they face a change in their costs, firms adjust their ...
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作者：Mazzolari, Francesca; Ragusa, Giuseppe
作者单位：Luiss Guido Carli University
摘要：The least-skilled workforce in the United States is disproportionally employed in the provision of time-intensive services that can be thought of as market substitutes for home production activities. At the same time, skilled workers, with their high opportunity cost of time, spend a larger fraction of their budget in these services. Given the skill asymmetry between consumers and providers in this market, product demand shifts-such as those arising when relative skilled wages increase-should ...
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作者：Bond, Timothy N.; Lang, Kevin
作者单位：Purdue University System; Purdue University; Boston University
摘要：Although both economists and psychometricians typically treat them as interval scales, test scores are reported using ordinal scales. Using the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study (ECLS-K) and the Children of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (CNLSY), we examine how order-preserving scale transformations affect the evolution of the black-white reading test score gap from kindergarten entry through third grade. Plausible transformations reverse the growth of the gap in the CNLSY and grea...
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作者：Bosker, Maarten; Buringh, Eltjo; van Zanden, Jan Luiten
作者单位：Erasmus University Rotterdam - Excl Erasmus MC; Erasmus University Rotterdam; Utrecht University; Tinbergen Institute; Utrecht University
摘要：This paper empirically investigates why, between 800 and 1800, the urban center of gravity moved from the Islamic world to Europe. Using a large new city-specific data set covering Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa, we unravel the role of geography and institutions in determining long-run city development in the two regions. We find that the main reasons for the Islamic world's stagnation and Europe's longterm success are specific to each region: any significant positive interaction be...
