American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Political Institutions and Policy Choices: Evidence from the United States TimothyBesley AnneCase 7 73 A rich array of institutional diversity makes the United States an excellent place to study the relationship between political institutions and public policy outcomes. This essay has three main aims. It reviews empirical evidence on the relationship between institutional rules, political representation and policy outcomes; it aims to place the literature into a broader context of theoretical and empirical work in political economy. Second, it develops a parallel empirical analysis that updates studies in the literature and reexamines some of the claims, in a setting unified in terms of policy outcomes and period under study. Third, it develops new directions for research, presenting some novel exploratory results. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=1&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544693 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article The Gains from Pension Reform AssarLindbeck MatsPersson 74 112 We classify social security pension systems in three dimensions: actuarial versus non-actuarial, funded versus unfunded, and defined-benefit versus defined-contribution systems. Recent pension reforms are discussed in terms of these dimensions. Shifting to a more actuarial system reduces labor-market distortions, although limiting the scope for redistribution. Shifting to a funded system may increase saving, redistribute income to future generations and distort contemporary labor supply. A partial shift to a funded system helps individuals diversify their pension assets. A shift from a defined-benefit to a defined-contribution system means that income risk will be shifted from workers to pensioners. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=2&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544701 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Health, Inequality, and Economic Development AngusDeaton 113 158 I discuss mechanisms linking health and inequality and review evidence for effects of income inequality on aggregate and individual mortality, over time and over space. I conclude that there is no direct link. Correlations come from factors other than income inequality itself, some of which are linked to broader notions of inequality and inequity that are most likely important for health. Whether income redistribution can improve population health does not depend on the existence of a direct link between income inequality and health and remains an open question. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=3&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544710 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Measurement Error in the Consumer Price Index: Where Do We Stand? David E.Lebow Jeremy B.Rudd 159 201 We survey the evidence on CPI bias and provide our best estimate of its magnitude. We also identify a "weighting" bias that has not been quantified previously. We estimate that the CPI currently overstates the rate of change in the cost of living by about 0.9 percentage point per year, with a confidence interval ranging from 0.3 to 1.4 percentage points. Our estimate is boosted by new evidence that substitution bias has increased sharply since the mid-1990s, and is reduced by the cumulative impact of a variety of recent improvements to BLS procedures. The study discusses potential areas for further improvement. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=4&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544729 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Review of The Ordinary Business of Life by Backhouse SamuelBrittan 202 206 Roger Backhouse's book The Ordinary Business of Life is a comprehensive history of economic thought, from the ancient Greeks to the present day. It will be useful both to specialist economists and to people with a smattering of economic ideas who want to fill in the historical gaps. Backhouse's book provides much of the material for anyone brave enough to tackle the big issues. http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=5&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544738 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Book Reviews 207 260 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=6&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544747 American Economic Association Nashville, TN 0022-8282 Journal of Economic Literature http://www.aeaweb.org/journal.html 41 1 March 2003 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/issue_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&issue_date=March 2003 Journal Article Annotated Listing of New Books 261 381 http://www.aeaweb.org/articles/article_detail.php?journal=JEL&volume=41&issue=1&article=7&issue_date=March 2003 10.1257/002205103321544756