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作者:Asher, Sam; Novosad, Paul
作者单位:Johns Hopkins University; Dartmouth College
摘要:We study how natural resource rents affect the selection and behavior of holders of public office. Using global price shocks to thirty-one minerals and nationwide geological and political data from India, we show that local mineral rent shocks cause the election of politicians charged with serious crimes. We also find a moral hazard effect: politicians commit more crimes and accumulate greater wealth when mineral prices rise during their terms in office. These politicians have direct influence...
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作者:Barron, Kai; Harmgart, Heike; Huck, Steffen; Schneider, Sebastian O.; Sutter, Matthias
作者单位:European Bank of Reconstructon & Development; University of London; University College London; Max Planck Society; University of Cologne; Max Planck Society; University of Innsbruck
摘要:We measure the prevalence of discrimination between Jordanian host and Syrian refugee children attending school in Jordan. Using a simple sharing experiment, we find only a small degree of out-group discrimination. However, Jordanian children with Palestinian roots do not discriminate at all, suggesting that a family history of refugee status can generate solidarity with new refugees. We also find that parents' narratives about the refugee crisis are correlated with their children's degree of ...
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作者:Advani, Arun; Elming, William; Shaw, Jonathan
作者单位:University of Warwick
摘要:We study the effects of audits on long run compliance behavior using a random audit program covering more than 53,000 tax returns. We find that audits raise reported tax liabilities for five years after audit, effects are longer-lasting for more stable sources of income, and only individuals found to have made errors respond to audit. A total of 60%-65% of revenue from audit comes from the change in reporting behavior. Extending the standard model of rational tax evasion, we show that these re...
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作者:O'Dea, Cormac; Sturrock, David
作者单位:Yale University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of London; University College London
摘要:The annuity puzzle refers to the fact that annuities are rarely purchased despite the longevity insurance they provide. Most explanations for this puzzle assume that individuals have accurate expectations about their future survival. We provide evidence that individuals misperceive their mortality risk and study the demand for annuities in a setting where annuities are priced by insurers on the basis of objectively-measured survival probabilities but in which individuals make purchasing decisi...
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作者:Besley, Timothy; Jensen, Anders; Persson, Torsten
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR); Harvard University
摘要:This paper studies individual and social motives in tax evasion. We build a simple dynamic model that incorporates these motives and their interaction. The social motives underpin the role of norms and are the source of the dynamics that we study. Our empirical analysis exploits the adoption in 1990 of a poll tax to fund local government in the United Kingdom, which led to widespread evasion. The evidence is consistent with the model's main predictions on the dynamics of evasion.
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作者:de Clippel, Geoffroy; Rozen, Kareen
作者单位:Brown University
摘要:We propose relaxing the first-order conditions in optimization to approximate rational consumer choice. We assess the magnitude of departures with a new, axiomatically founded measure that admits multiple interpretations. Standard inequality tests of rationality for any given reference class of preferences can be conveniently repurposed to measure goodness-of-fit with that class. Another advantage of our approach is that it is applicable in any context where the first-order approach is meaning...
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作者:Enke, Benjamin; Gneezy, Uri; Hall, Brian; Martin, David; Nelidov, Vadim; Offerman, Theo; van de Ven, Jeroen
作者单位:Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of California System; University of California San Diego; Harvard University; University of Amsterdam; Tinbergen Institute
摘要:Despite decades of research on heuristics and biases, evidence on the effect of large incentives on cognitive biases is scant. We test the effect of incentives on four widely documented biases: base-rate neglect, anchoring, failure of contingent thinking, and intuitive reasoning. In laboratory experiments with 1,236 college students in Nairobi, we implement three incentive levels: no incentives, standard lab payments, and very high incentives. We find that very high stakes increase response ti...
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作者:Casey, Katherine; Glennerster, Rachel; Miguel, Edward; Voors, Maarten
作者单位:Stanford University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Chicago; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; Wageningen University & Research
摘要:Where the state is weak, traditional authorities control the local provision of public goods. These leaders come from an older, less educated generation and often rule in an authoritarian and exclusionary fashion. This means the skills of community members may not be leveraged in policymaking. We experimentally evaluate two solutions to this problem in Sierra Leone: one encourages delegation to higher-skill individuals, and a second fosters broader inclusion in decision making. In a real-world...
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作者:Prem, Mounu; Vargas, Juan F.; Mejia, Daniel
作者单位:Universidad de los Andes (Colombia)
摘要:Policies based on prohibition and repression to fight the war on drugs have largely failed in a variety of contexts. However, incentive-based policies may also fail and have unintended negative consequences if policymakers do not properly anticipate behavioral reactions. This is an particularly important concern in the case of policies announced prior to their implementation. In this paper, we show that a naive and untimely policy announcement generated an unprecedented escalation in cocaine p...
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作者:Moreno-Medina, Jonathan
作者单位:University of Texas System; University of Texas at San Antonio
摘要:This paper provides evidence of the causal effect of church attendance on petty crime by using quasi-random variation in the number of Sundays when it precipitated at the specific time of most religious services. Using a novel strategy, I find a narrow time window when most individuals attend church. Based on a panel between 1980 and 2016, I find that one more Sunday with precipitation at the time of church increases yearly drug-related, alcohol-related, and white-collar crimes. I do not find ...