Male Is a Gender, Too: A Review of Why Gender Matters in Economics by Mukesh Eswaran

By Julie A. Nelson

Journal of Economic Literature, December 2016

Mukesh Eswaran's Why Gender Matters in Economics presents a generally well-researched review of the literature on women and economics, and admirably attempts take a global perspective. Eswaran's analysis is compromised, however, by an unreflective ...

What Is European Integration Really About? A Political Guide for Economists

[Symposium: The Euro]

By Enrico Spolaore

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2013

Europe's monetary union is part of a broader process of integration that started in the aftermath of World War II. In this "political guide for economists," we look at the creation of the euro within the bigger picture of European integration. How and w...

Urban Evolutions: The Fast, the Slow, and the Still

By Gilles Duranton

American Economic Review, March 2007

With the use of French and US data, new and systematic evidence is provided about the rapid location changes of industries across cities (the fast). Cities are also slowly moving up and down the urban hierarchy (the slow), while the size distribution o...

Optimal Taxation of Top Labor Incomes: A Tale of Three Elasticities

By Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel Saez, and Stefanie Stantcheva

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2014

This paper derives optimal top tax rate formulas in a model where top earners respond to taxes through three channels: labor supply, tax avoidance, and compensation bargaining. The optimal top tax rate increases when there are zero-sum compensation-bar...

Temperature Shocks and Economic Growth: Evidence from the Last Half Century

By Melissa Dell, Benjamin F. Jones, and Benjamin A. Olken

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, July 2012

This paper uses historical fluctuations in temperature within countries to identify its effects on aggregate economic outcomes. We find three primary results. First, higher temperatures substantially reduce economic growth in poor countries. Second, high...

The Impact of NAFTA on the United States

[Symposium: The North American Economy]

By Mary E. Burfisher, Sherman Robinson, and Karen Thierfelder

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 2001

We describe the main economic arguments posed for and against the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) during the U.S. policy debate. To evaluate these arguments, we analyze recent trade data and survey post-NAFTA studies. We find that both the U.S...

Saver Behavior and 401(k) Retirement Wealth

By James M. Poterba, Steven F. Venti, and David A. Wise

American Economic Review, May 2000

The AEA's Electronic Publishing Plans: A Progress Report

[Symposium: Electronic Journals in Economics]

By Hal R. Varian

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1997

This paper describes the American Economic Association's electronic publishing plans. Special attention is given to the JSTOR project and to pricing issues. There is also some speculation about how journals and publication will evolve in this new medium.

All-or-Nothing Monitoring

By Rui R. Zhao

American Economic Review, September 2008

A principal can observe both the output and input of an agent who works at a job involving multiple tasks. We provide a simple theory that explains why it may be optimal for the principal to use only an output-based incentive contract, even though the pri...

The Technology of Skill Formation

By Flavio Cunha and James Heckman

American Economic Review, May 2007

Investor Sentiments

By Sergei Izmalkov and Muhamet Yildiz

American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, February 2010

We consider a general class of games that have been used to model many economic problems where players' sentiments are believed to play an important role. Dropping the common prior assumption, we identify the relevant notion of sentiments for strategic...

Patents as a Spur to Subsequent Innovation? Evidence from Pharmaceuticals

By Duncan S. Gilchrist

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2016

This paper examines how an incumbent's patent protection acts as an implicit subsidy toward non-infringing substitutes. I analyze whether classes of pharmaceuticals whose first entrant has a longer period of market exclusivity (time between approval and g...

Credit Ratings and the Evolution of the Mortgage-Backed Securities Market

By Jie He, Jun Qian, and Philip E. Strahan

American Economic Review, May 2011

We compare the structure and performance of private (non-GSE) mortgage-backed securities sold by large issuers vs. those sold by small issuers over the period 2000-2006. Securities sold by large issuers have less subordination—a greater fraction of ...

The Political Economy of Immigration Law: Impact of Simpson-Rodino on the United States and Mexico

[Symposium: Immigration]

By Clark W. Reynolds and Robert K. McCleery

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1988

About two years ago the United States passed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, also called the "Simpson-Rodino" bill of 1986. The Act called for increased enforcement of migration policy, employer sanctions, and amnesty for those who could prove con...

For Love or Money--Or Both?

[Symposium: Women and the Labor Market]

By Nancy Folbre and Julie A. Nelson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2000

This paper explores the implications for economic analysis, societal well-being, and public policy of the movement of care services (such as child and elder care) from home to market. A broad empirical overview sets the stage for the argument that this pr...

The Effect of Child Gender on Parents' Labor Supply: An Examination of Natives, Immigrants, and their Children

By Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia and Jennifer Ward-Batts

American Economic Review, May 2007

Tax Me, but Spend Wisely? Sources of Public Finance and Government Accountability

By Lucie Gadenne

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, January 2017

Existing evidence suggests that extra grant revenues lead to little improvements in public services in developing countries--but would governments spend tax revenues differently? This paper considers a program that invests in the tax capacity of Brazilian...

Political Price Cycles in Regulated Industries: Theory and Evidence

By Rodrigo M. S. Moita and Claudio Paiva

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2013

The early work of Stigler (1971) treats the regulatory process as the arbitration of conflicting economic and political interests rather than a pure welfare-maximizing effort. This paper builds on these ideas and models the regulatory process as a game...

Generational Accounts for the United States: An Update

By Jagadeesh Gokhale, Benjamin Page, Joan Potter, and John Sturrock

American Economic Review, May 2000

Married to Intolerance: Attitudes toward Intermarriage in Germany, 1900-2006

By Nico Voigtländer and Hans-Joachim Voth

American Economic Review, May 2013

We analyze under what conditions intermarriage can be used as an indicator of tolerance, and whether such tolerant attitudes persisted in Germany during the twentieth century. We find strong evidence for the persistence of tolerant attitudes towards inter...