The Effects of Privatization and Ownership in Transition Economies

By Saul Estrin, Jan Hanousek, Evzen Kocenda, and Jan Svejnar

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2009

In this paper, we evaluate what we have learned to date about the effects of privatization from the experiences during the last fifteen to twenty years in the postcommunist (transition) economies and, where relevant, China. We distinguish separately th...

General Index

Journal of Economic Literature, December 2008

Probability and Uncertainty in Economic Modeling

By Itzhak Gilboa, Andrew W. Postlewaite, and David Schmeidler

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2008

Economic modeling assumes, for the most part, that agents are Bayesian, that is, that they entertain probabilistic beliefs, objective or subjective, regarding any event in question. We argue that the formation of such beliefs calls for a deeper examinatio...

The Economics of Patents: Lessons from Recent U.S. Patent Reform

By Nancy T. Gallini

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2002

U.S. patent reform over the past two decades has strengthened the legal enforcement of patent rights and has extended protection to new subject matter, such as genetically engineered life forms and business methods. This paper highlights these and other p...

Traders' Expectations in Asset Markets: Experimental Evidence

By Ernan Haruvy, Yaron Lahav, and Charles N. Noussair

American Economic Review, December 2007

We elicit traders' predictions of future price trajectories in repeated experimental markets for a 15-period-lived asset. We find that individuals' beliefs about prices are adaptive, and primarily based on past trends in the current and previous markets...

Taking the Dogma out of Econometrics: Structural Modeling and Credible Inference

[Symposium: Con out of Economics]

By Aviv Nevo and Michael D. Whinston

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 2010

Without a doubt, there has been a "credibility revolution" in applied econometrics. One contributing development has been in the improvement and increased use in data analysis of "structural methods"; that is, the use of models based in economic theory. ...

Development Effects of Electrification: Evidence from the Topographic Placement of Hydropower Plants in Brazil

By Molly Lipscomb, A. Mushfiq Mobarak, and Tania Barham

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, April 2013

We estimate the development effects of electrification across Brazil over the period 1960-2000. We simulate a time series of hypothetical electricity grids for Brazil for the period 1960-2000 that show how the grid would have evolved had infrastructure...

Classroom Games: A Market for Lemons

By Charles A. Holt and Roger Sherman

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1999

The incentives that arise in markets with asymmetric information are illustrated in the classroom exercise presented here. Student sellers choose both a quality 'grade' and a price for their products. Initially, both prices and grades for all sellers are ...

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2015

Ricardo's Theory of Comparative Advantage: Old Idea, New Evidence

By Arnaud Costinot and Dave Donaldson

American Economic Review, May 2012

When asked to name one proposition in the social sciences that is both true and non-trivial, Paul Samuelson famously replied: 'Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage'. Truth, however, in Samuelson's reply refers to the fact that Ricardo's theory of com...

Greenhouse Gas Reductions under Low Carbon Fuel Standards?

By Stephen P. Holland, Jonathan E. Hughes, and Christopher R. Knittel

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, February 2009

A low carbon fuel standard (LCFS) seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by limiting the carbon intensity of fuels. We show this decreases high carbon fuel production but increases low carbon fuel production, possibly increasing net carbon emissions....

School Vouchers: A Critical View

[Symposium: School Vouchers]

By Helen F. Ladd

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2002

This paper marshals available evidence from both the U.S. and other countries on the effects of private schools, peer effects, and competition to demonstrate that that any gains in overall student achievement from a large scale voucher program are at best...

Group Selection: A Review Essay on Does Altruism Exist? by David Sloan Wilson

By Arthur J. Robson

Journal of Economic Literature, December 2017

In response to the question in the title, Does Altruism Exist?, David Sloan Wilson argues forcefully that altruism exists and that the biological mechanism of group selection is responsible. He argues that group selection should be taken especially...

JEL Classification System

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2009

Inequality and the Organization of Knowledge

By Luis Garicano and Esteban Rossi-Hansberg

American Economic Review, May 2004

Rounding the Corners of the Policy Trilemma: Sources of Monetary Policy Autonomy

By Michael W. Klein and Jay C. Shambaugh

American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, October 2015

A central result in international macroeconomics is that a government cannot simultaneously opt for open financial markets, fixed exchange rates, and monetary autonomy; rather, it is constrained to choosing no more than two of these three. This paper cons...

Contraction and Expansion: The Divergence of Private Sector and Public Sector Unionism in the United States

[Symposium: Explaining Savings]

By Richard B. Freeman

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1988

The institutional structure of the American labor market changed remarkably from the 1950s and 1960s to the 1980s. What explains the decline in union representation of private wage and salary workers? Why have unions expanded in the public sector while co...

Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

By Nava Ashraf, James Berry, and Jesse M. Shapiro

American Economic Review, December 2010

The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologic...

After the Big Bang? Obstacles to the Emergence of the Rule of Law in Post-Communist Societies

By Karla Hoff and Joseph E. Stiglitz

American Economic Review, June 2004

Default Tips

By Kareem Haggag and Giovanni Paci

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2014

We examine the role of defaults in high-frequency, small-scale choices using unique data on over 13 million New York City taxi rides. Using a regression discontinuity design, we show that default tip suggestions have a large impact on tip amounts. These r...