The Economics of the Climate

By Geoffrey Heal

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

I review the economic characteristics of the climate problem, focusing on the choice of discount rates in the presence of a stock externality, risk and uncertainty/ambiguity, and the role of integrated assessment models (IAMs) in analyzing policy choices....

The Intellectual Legacy of Progressive Economics: A Review Essay of Thomas C. Leonard's Illiberal Reformers

By Marshall I. Steinbaum and Bernard A. Weisberger

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

Thomas Leonard's 2016 book Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era argues that exclusionary views on eugenics, race, immigration, and gender taint the intellectual legacy of progressive economics and eco...

On Economic Interdependence and War

By Massimo Morelli and Tommaso Sonno

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

In this article, we review the book Economic Interdependence and War by Dale C. Copeland, and take this opportunity to describe and discuss the current debate on the topic from an interdisciplinary perspective. We also provide novel insights on the...

Law, Coercion, and Expression: A Review Essay on Frederick Schauer's The Force of Law and Richard McAdams's The Expressive Powers of Law

By Eric Rasmusen

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

What is law and why do people obey it? This question from jurisprudence has recently been tackled using the tools of economics. The field of law and economics has long studied how fines and imprisonment affect behavior. Nobody believes, however, that all ...

The Evolution of Value Systems: A Review Essay on Ian Morris's Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels

By Alberto Bisin

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

Foragers, Farmers, and Fossil Fuels: How Human Values Evolve is a large-scale history of the world through the different modes of production humanity has adopted over time and their implications in terms of moral values. Morris argues that the pred...

Book Reviews

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

JEL Classification System

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

Annotated Listing of New Books

Journal of Economic Literature, September 2017

Front Matter

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

One Mandarin Benefits the Whole Clan: Hometown Favoritism in an Authoritarian Regime

By Quoc-Anh Do, Kieu-Trang Nguyen, and Anh N. Tran

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

We study patronage politics in authoritarian Vietnam, using an exhaustive panel of ranking officials from 2000 to 2010 to estimate their promotions' impact on infrastructure in their hometowns of patrilineal ancestry. Native officials' promotions lead to ...

The Use of Violence in Illegal Markets: Evidence from Mahogany Trade in the Brazilian Amazon

By Ariaster B. Chimeli and Rodrigo R. Soares

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

We provide evidence on the effect of market illegality on violence. Brazil was historically the main exporter of mahogany. Starting in the 1990s, trade was restricted and eventually prohibited. We build on previous evidence that mahogany trade persisted a...

There Will Be Killing: Collectivization and Death of Draft Animals

By Shuo Chen and Xiaohuan Lan

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

The elimination of private property rights can lead to inefficient use of productive assets. In China's collectivization movement from 1955 to 1957, instead of transferring draft animals to the ownership of the collectives, peasants slaughtered them to ke...

Universal Investment in Infants and Long-Run Health: Evidence from Denmark's 1937 Home Visiting Program

By Jonas Hjort, Mikkel Sølvsten, and Miriam Wüst

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

This paper examines the long-run health effects of a universal infant health intervention, the 1937 Danish home visiting program, which targeted all infants. Using administrative population data and exploiting variation in the timing of implementation acr...

Human Capital Persistence and Development

By Rudi Rocha, Claudio Ferraz, and Rodrigo R. Soares

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

This paper documents the persistence of human capital over time and its association with long-term development. We exploit variation induced by a state-sponsored settlement policy that attracted immigrants with higher levels of schooling to particular reg...

Conflict and the Persistence of Ethnic Bias

By Moses Shayo and Asaf Zussman

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

How persistent are the effects of conflict on bias toward co-ethnics? What are the channels of persistence? We employ a measure of ethnic bias derived from decisions made by Israeli Arab and Jewish judges to study the levels and determinants of bias durin...

Customary Norms, Inheritance, and Human Capital: Evidence from a Reform of the Matrilineal System in Ghana

By Eliana La Ferrara and Annamaria Milazzo

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

We study the role of traditional norms in land allocation and human capital investment. We exploit a policy experiment in Ghana that increased the land that children from matrilineal groups could inherit from their fathers. Boys exposed to the reform rece...

Do College Graduates Serving as Village Officials Help Rural China?

By Guojun He and Shaoda Wang

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

This study estimates the effect of improved bureaucrat quality on poverty alleviation by exploring a unique human capital reallocation policy in China—the College Graduate Village Officials (CGVOs) program. We find that introducing CGVOs into the vi...

In a Small Moment: Class Size and Moral Hazard in the Italian Mezzogiorno

By Joshua D. Angrist, Erich Battistin, and Daniela Vuri

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

Instrumental variables (IV) estimates show strong class-size effects in Southern Italy. But Italy's Mezzogiorno is distinguished by manipulation of standardized test scores as well as by economic disadvantage. IV estimates suggest small classes increase m...

Persuasion: A Case Study of Papal Influences on Fertility-Related Beliefs and Behavior

By Vittorio Bassi and Imran Rasul

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

We study the persuasive impacts of non-informative communication on the short-run beliefs and long-run behavior of individuals. We do so in the context of the Papal visit to Brazil in October 1991, in which persuasive messages related to fertility were ...

The Impact of Maternal Literacy and Participation Programs: Evidence from a Randomized Evaluation in India

By Rukmini Banerji, James Berry, and Marc Shotland

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, October 2017

Using a randomized field experiment in India, we evaluate the effectiveness of adult literacy and parental involvement interventions in improving children's learning. Households were assigned to receive either adult literacy (language and math) classes fo...