Correspondence

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1998

Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1998

Index by Author to Volume 12

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1998

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1998

Help Wanted: Economists, Crime and Public Policy

[Symposium: The Economics of Crime]

By John J. DiIulio

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Beginning with Gary W. Becker's (1968) article on crime and punishment, economists have contributed important theoretical insights and empirical findings to the study of criminal behavior but the influence of economists on crime-relevant research and over...

Why Do So Many Young American Men Commit Crimes and What Might We Do about It?

[Symposium: The Economics of Crime]

By Richard B. Freeman

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

This paper shows that participation in crime and involvement with the criminal justice system has reached extraordinary levels among young men. With approximately 2 percent as many men incarcerated as in the labor force, the crime rate should have plummet...

Crime, Punishment, and the Market for Offenses

[Symposium: The Economics of Crime]

By Isaac Ehrlich

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Crime is a subject of intense emotions, conflicting ideologies. However, economists have generally explained it as a reflection of individual choice and equilibrating market forces. Two major themes of the literature are outlined: the evolution of a 'mark...

The Computational Experiment: An Econometric Tool

[Symposium: Computational Experiments in Macroeconomics]

By Finn E. Kydland and Edward C. Prescott

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

An economic experiment places people in an environment desired by the experimenter, who then records the time paths of their economic behavior. Performing experiments using actual people at the level of national economies is obviously impractical but cons...

The Empirical Foundations of Calibration

[Symposium: Computational Experiments in Macroeconomics]

By Lars Peter Hansen and James J. Heckman

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Interest in simulating recently developed dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models of the economy stimulated a demand for parameters. This has given rise to calibration as advocated by Finn E. Kydland and Edward C. Prescott (1982). This paper explore...

Macroeconomics and Methodology

[Symposium: Computational Experiments in Macroeconomics]

By Christopher A. Sims

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Probabilistic reasoning is essential to discourse in economics. This is true in any discipline in which, as in economics, data collection is constrained and beliefs about the phenomena being studied are crucial to decisions that cannot be delayed. Some ec...

Social Psychology, Unemployment and Macroeconomics

By William A. Darity and Arthur H. Goldsmith

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

In a conventional macroeconomic model, following a policy change, as nominal wages adjust the economy returns to its original real levels of employment, output, and unemployment. This description of events ignores the social psychological consequences of ...

Dynamic Revenue Estimation

By Alan J. Auerbach

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

This paper considers the question of adopting 'dynamic' revenue estimation methods, which would incorporate the predicted macroeconomic effects of policies. It describes the current revenue estimation process and how these estimates are used in the format...

Analyzing the Airwaves Auction

By R. Preston McAfee and John McMillan

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

The design of the Federal Communications Commission spectrum license auction is a case study in the application of economic theory. Auction theory helped address policy questions such as whether an open auction or a sealed-bid auction should be used; whet...

Does Studying Economics Discourage Cooperation? Watch What We Do, Not What We Say or How We Play

By Anthony M. Yezer, Robert S. Goldfarb, and Paul J. Poppen

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Based on what economics students say and how they play games, economics students appear less cooperative than other students. But appearances can be deceiving: the evidence in this paper indicates that the actual behavior of economics students is more coo...

Do Economists Make Bad Citizens?

By Robert H. Frank, Thomas D. Gilovich, and Dennis T. Regan

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Although field experiments and classroom surveys are ambiguous about whether economists are less likely than others to cooperate in social dilemmas, three important points remain clear: economics training encourages the view that people are motivated prim...

Classroom Games: Trading in a Pit Market

By Charles A. Holt

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

This paper describes a classroom exercise that resembles trading in the 'pit' of some financial and futures markets. Playing cards are used to induce supply and demand functions. Instructions and helpful hints are provided. The exercise facilitates an und...

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Recommendations for Further Reading

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Winter 1996

Distinguished Lecture on Economics in Government: Big Bills Left on the Sidewalk: Why Some Nations Are Rich, and Others Poor

By Mancur Olson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1996

Some research presumes that, when rational parties bargain, nothing is left on the table, so that social outcomes are efficient and leave countries on the frontiers of their aggregate production functions. A study of differences in per capita incomes acro...