Foreword

By David Card

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Editors' Introduction

By William R. Johnson and Ginny Herbert

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2021

Foreword

By Christina D. Romer

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2022

Editors' Introduction

By William R. Johnson and Mary Roth

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2022

President's Foreword

By Susan C. Athey

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2023

Editors' Introduction

By William R. Johnson and Tina Lippert

AEA Papers and Proceedings, May 2023

How Central Should the Central Bank Be?

By Alan S. Blinder

Journal of Economic Literature, March 2010

The nature and scope of the Federal Reserve's authority and the structure of its decision making are now "on the table" to an extent that has not been seen since 1935, and the Fed's vaunted independence is under some attack. This essay asks what the Fed...

What Powers for the Federal Reserve?

By Martin Feldstein

Journal of Economic Literature, March 2010

In this essay, I explain my reasons for the following policy recommendations: (1) The Fed should continue to manage monetary policy as it has in the past, should act as the nation's lender of last resort, should fully supervise the large bank holding co...

Building Bridges between Structural and Program Evaluation Approaches to Evaluating Policy

By James J. Heckman

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2010

This paper compares the structural approach to economic policy analysis with the program evaluation approach. It offers a third way to do policy analysis that combines the best features of both approaches. I illustrate the value of this alternative approa...

Better LATE Than Nothing: Some Comments on Deaton (2009) and Heckman and Urzua (2009)

By Guido W. Imbens

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2010

Two recent papers, Deaton (2009) and Heckman and Urzua (2009), argue against what they see as an excessive and inappropriate use of experimental and quasi-experimental methods in empirical work in economics in the last decade. They specifically question ...

Instruments, Randomization, and Learning about Development

By Angus Deaton

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2010

There is currently much debate about the effectiveness of foreign aid and about what kind of projects can engender economic development. There is skepticism about the ability of econometric analysis to resolve these issues or of development agencies to l...

Why Isn't Mexico Rich?

By Gordon H. Hanson

Journal of Economic Literature, December 2010

Over the last three decades, Mexico has aggressively reformed its economy, opening to foreign trade and investment, achieving fiscal discipline, and privatizing state owned enterprises. Despite these efforts, the country's economic growth has been lacklu...

Why Have Economic Reforms in Mexico Not Generated Growth?

By Timothy J. Kehoe and Kim J. Ruhl

Journal of Economic Literature, December 2010

Following its opening to trade and foreign investment in the mid-1980s, Mexico's economic growth has been modest at best, particularly in comparison with that of China. Comparing these countries and reviewing the literature, we conclude that the relation ...

100 Years of the American Economic Review: The Top 20 Articles

By Kenneth J. Arrow, B. Douglas Bernheim, Martin S. Feldstein, Daniel L. McFadden, James M. Poterba, and Robert M. Solow

American Economic Review, February 2011

This paper presents a list of the top 20 articles published in the American Economic Review during its first 100 years. This list was assembled in honor of the AER's one-hundredth anniversary by a group of distinguished economists at th...

The Economic History of the American Economic Review: A Century's Explosion of Economics Research

By Robert A. Margo

American Economic Review, February 2011

Written in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Economic Review, this paper recounts the history of the journal. The recounting has an analytic core that sees the American Economic Association as an organization supplying goods...

Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation (1911)

By Katharine Coman

American Economic Review, February 2011

A reprint of the lead article in the inaugural issue of the American Economic Review, "Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation," by Katharine Coman, who examined the common property resource problem as applied to water in the Western United States.

Reflections on "Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation"

By Elinor Ostrom

American Economic Review, February 2011

It is instructive to read the article that Katharine Coman published in the first issue of the American Economic Review to gain insight into the problems of collective action related to irrigation in the American West. One gains further understanding of t...

Institutional Path Dependence in Climate Adaptation: Coman's "Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation"

By Gary D. Libecap

American Economic Review, February 2011

Katharine Coman's "Some Unsettled Problems of Irrigation," published in March 1911 in the first issue of the American Economic Review, addressed issues of water supply, rights, and organization. These same issues have relevance today, in the face...

The Problem of the Commons: Still Unsettled after 100 Years

By Robert N. Stavins

American Economic Review, February 2011

The problem of the commons is more important to our lives and thus more central to economics than a century ago when Katharine Coman led off the first issue of the American Economic Review. As the US and other economies have grown, the carrying capacity ...

The Squam Lake Report: Commentary

By Charles A. E. Goodhart

Journal of Economic Literature, March 2011

The idea of the Squam Lake Report was to bring together some fifteen leading U.S. financial economists to see what regulatory changes they could jointly agree and thereby influence policy discussions. Seeking to find a consensus, however, meant ...