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作者：Chambers, Robert G.; Melkonyan, Tigran A.
作者单位：University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; University of Warwick
摘要：We develop a model that explains the stylized facts of food scares: an immediate and sharp decline in consumption of the product followed by a slow and frequently partial recovery of demand after the scare passes. The model is used in conjunction with the natural experiment afforded by the 'mad-cow' crisis to elicit empirical information on decision makers' perception of uncertainty. Our theoretical and quantitative results suggest that observed behavior is consistent with sharp changes in bel...
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作者：Serra-Garcia, Marta; van Damme, Eric; Potters, Jan
作者单位：University of California System; University of California San Diego; Tilburg University; Tilburg University; Tilburg University; Tilburg University
摘要：Abstract We compare communication about private information to communication about actions in a one-shot 2-person public good game with private information. The informed player, who knows the exact return from contributing and whose contribution is unobserved, can send a message about the return or her contribution. Theoretically, messages can elicit the uninformed player's contribution, and allow the informed player to free-ride. The exact language used is not expected to matter. Experimental...
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作者：Michelacci, Claudio; Schivardi, Fabiano
摘要：Several imperfections can prevent entrepreneurs from diversifying away the idiosyncratic risk of their business. As a result idiosyncratic risk discourages entrepreneurial activity and hinders growth, with the effects being stronger in economies with lower risk diversification opportunities. In accordance with this prediction, we find that OECD countries with low levels of risk diversification opportunities (as measured by the relevance of family firms or of widely held companies) perform rela...
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作者：Funk, Patricia; Gathmann, Christina
作者单位：Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics; Ruprecht Karls University Heidelberg
摘要：Abstract Using a new data set on Swiss cantons since 1890, we analyze how the adoption of proportional representation affects fiscal policy. In line with economic theory, we show that proportional systems shift spending toward broad goods (like education and welfare benefits) but decrease spending on geographically targetable goods (like roads). We find little evidence that proportional representation increases the overall size of government. An analysis of the underlying theoretical mechanism...
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作者：Gaechter, Simon; Nosenzo, Daniele; Sefton, Martin
作者单位：University of Nottingham
摘要：We compare social preference and social norm-based explanations for peer effects in a three-person gift exchange experiment. In the experiment a principal pays a wage to each of two agents, who then make effort choices sequentially. In our baseline treatment we observe that the second agent's effort is influenced by the effort choice of the first agent, even though there are no material spillovers between agents. This peer effect is predicted by the Fehr-Schmidt (1999) model of social preferen...
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作者：Chang, Yongsung; Kim, Sun-Bin; Schorfheide, Frank
作者单位：University of Rochester; Yonsei University; University of Pennsylvania
摘要：Data from a heterogeneous-agents economy with incomplete asset markets and indivisible labor supply are simulated under various fiscal policy regimes and an approximating representative-agent model is estimated. Preference and technology parameter estimates of the representative-agent model are not invariant to policy changes and the bias in the representative-agent model's policy predictions is large compared to predictive intervals that reflect parameter uncertainty. Since it is not always f...
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作者：Herweg, Fabian; Mierendorff, Konrad
作者单位：University of Munich; University of Zurich
摘要：We consider a model of firm pricing and consumer choice, where consumers are loss averse and uncertain about their future demand. Possibly, consumers in our model prefer a flat rate to a measured tariff, even though this choice does not minimize their expected billing amounta behavior in line with ample empirical evidence. We solve for the profit-maximizing two-part tariff, which is a flat rate if (a) marginal costs are not too high, (b) loss aversion is intense, and (c) there are strong varia...
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作者：Cunat, Alejandro; Fons-Rosen, Christian
作者单位：University of Vienna; Pompeu Fabra University; Barcelona School of Economics
摘要：We present a model of international portfolio choice based on cross-country differences in relative factor abundance. Countries have varying degrees of similarity in their factor endowment ratios, and are subject to aggregate productivity shocks. Risk-averse consumers can insure against these shocks by investing their wealth at home and abroad. In a many-good setup, the change in factor prices after a positive shock in a particular country provides insurance to countries that have dissimilar f...
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作者：Michau, Jean-Baptiste
作者单位：Institut Polytechnique de Paris; Ecole Polytechnique
摘要：This paper emphasizes the two-way causality between the provision of unemployment insurance and the cultural transmission of civicness. The returns to being uncivic are increasing in the generosity of unemployment insurance; but this generosity is decreasing in the number of uncivic individuals. In this context, I determine the evolution of preferences across generations and show that cultural heterogeneity is sustained over the long-run. The dynamics of cultural transmission can generate a lo...
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作者：Costa, Dora L.; Kahn, Matthew E.
作者单位：University of California System; University of California Los Angeles
摘要：Nudges are being widely promoted to encourage energy conservation. We show that the popular electricity conservation nudge of providing feedback to households on own and peers' home electricity usage in a home electricity report is two to four times more effective with political liberals than with conservatives. Political conservatives are more likely than liberals to opt out of receiving the home electricity report and to report disliking the report. Our results suggest that energy conservati...
