Recommendations for Further Reading

By Bernard Saffran

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2004

Eight Questions about Corruption

[Symposium: Institutions]

By Jakob Svensson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2005

This paper will discuss eight frequently asked questions about public corruption: (1) What is corruption? (2) Which countries are the most corrupt? (3) What are the common characteristics of countries with high corruption? (4) What is the magnitude of cor...

Political Selection

[Symposium: Institutions]

By Timothy Besley

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 2005

Almost every major episode of economic change over the past 200 years of political history has been associated with key personalities coming to power with a commitment to these changes. But if such dynamic leaders are so important, then we need to underst...

Annotated Listing of New Books

Journal of Economic Literature, March 2002

Enterprise Restructuring in Transition: A Quantitative Survey

By Simeon Djankov and Peter Murrell

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2002

We survey the empirical literature analyzing the process of enterprise restructuring in transition economies. The survey provides new insights into the relative effectiveness of different reform policies, and into how this effectiveness varies across regi...

Book Reviews

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2003

Minutes of the Annual Meeting

American Economic Review, May 2002

Troubled Banks, Impaired Foreign Direct Investment: The Role of Relative Access to Credit

By Michael W. Klein, Joe Peek, and Eric S. Rosengren

American Economic Review, June 2002

During the 1980's, theories were developed to explain the striking correlation between real exchange rates and foreign direct investment (FDI). However, this relationship broke down for Japanese FDI in the 1990's, as the real exchange rate appreciated whi...

Litigation Costs and Returns to Experience

By Paul Oyer and Scott Schaefer

American Economic Review, June 2002

We develop a model linking maximum damage awards available to plaintiffs in wrongful termination lawsuits, workers' propensity to sue as a function of experience, and returns to experience. Using Equal Employment Opportunity Commission data on protected-w...

The Household Bankruptcy Decision

By Scott Fay, Erik Hurst, and Michelle J. White

American Economic Review, June 2002

Inequality Among World Citizens: 1820-1992

By François Bourguignon and Christian Morrisson

American Economic Review, September 2002

This paper investigates the distribution of well being among world citizens during the last two centuries. The estimates show that inequality of world distribution of income worsened from the beginning of the 19th century to World War II and after that se...

The Returns to Entrepreneurial Investment: A Private Equity Premium Puzzle?

By Tobias J. Moskowitz and Annette Vissing-Jørgensen

American Economic Review, September 2002

We document the return to investing in U.S. nonpublicly traded equity. Entrepreneurial investment is extremely concentrated, yet despite its poor diversification, we find that the returns to private equity are no higher than the returns to public equity. ...

Savings and Portfolio Choice in a Two-Period Two-Asset Model

By Saku Aura, Peter Diamond, and John Geanakoplos

American Economic Review, September 2002

Do Consumers React to Anticipated Income Changes? Evidence from the Alaska Permanent Fund

By Chang-Tai Hsieh

American Economic Review, March 2003

Optimal Defaults

By James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian, and Andrew Metrick

American Economic Review, May 2003

Guaranteeing Individual Accounts

By Marie-Eve Lachance and Olivia S. Mitchell

American Economic Review, May 2003

Global aging is prompting workers and taxpayers everywhere to recognize their vulnerability to the inherent uncertainty of unfunded social-security systems. This has generated an international wave of social-security reforms over the last two decades, pro...

How Welfare Policies Affect Child and Adolescent Achievement

By Elizabeth Clark-Kauffman, Greg J. Duncan, and Pamela Morris

American Economic Review, May 2003

Social Security and Individual Accounts as Elements of Overall Risk-Sharing

By Robert J. Shiller

American Economic Review, May 2003

Employer Stock and 401(k) Plans

By James M. Poterba

American Economic Review, May 2003

Multiproduct Quality Competition: Fighting Brands and Product Line Pruning

By Justin P. Johnson and David P. Myatt

American Economic Review, June 2003

Firms selling multiple quality-differentiated products frequently alter their product lines when a competitor enters the market. We present a model of multiproduct monopoly and duopoly using a general "upgrades" approach that yields a powerful analytical ...