Front Matter

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

Prestige Matters: Wage Premium and Value Addition in Elite Colleges

By Sheetal Sekhri

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

This paper provides evidence that graduates of elite public institutions in India have an earnings advantage in the labor market even though attending these colleges has no discernible effect on academic outcomes. Admission to the elite public colleges is...

Multilateral Trade Bargaining: A First Look at the GATT Bargaining Records

By Kyle Bagwell, Robert W. Staiger, and Ali Yurukoglu

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

This paper empirically examines recently declassified tariff bargaining data from the GATT/WTO. Focusing on the Torquay Round (1950–1951), we document stylized facts about these interconnected high-stakes international negotiations that suggest a lack o...

The Impact of Information Technology on the Diffusion of New Pharmaceuticals

By Kenneth J. Arrow, L. Kamran Bilir, and Alan Sorensen

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

Do information differences across US physicians contribute to treatment disparities? This paper uses a unique new dataset to evaluate how changes in physician access to a decision-relevant drug database affect prescribing decisions. Our results indicate d...

The Competitive Effects of Entry: Evidence from Supercenter Expansion

By Peter Arcidiacono, Paul B. Ellickson, Carl F. Mela, and John D. Singleton

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

Coupling weekly grocery transactions with the exact location and opening date of Walmarts over an 11-year period, we examine how Supercenter entry affects prices and revenues at incumbent supermarkets. We find that entry within 1 mile of an incumbent caus...

Front-Loading the Unemployment Benefit: An Empirical Assessment

By Attila Lindner and Balázs Reizer

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

We estimate the effect of front-loading unemployment benefit payments on nonemployment duration and reemployment wages. Exploiting a sharp change in the path of benefits for those who claimed unemployment benefits after November 1, 2005 in Hungary, we sho...

Gender Differences in the Choice of Major: The Importance of Female Role Models

By Catherine Porter and Danila Serra

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

We conducted a field experiment aimed at increasing the percentage of women majoring in economics. We exposed students enrolled in introductory classes to successful and charismatic women who majored in economics at the same university. The intervention s...

One in a Million: Field Experiments on Perceived Closeness of the Election and Voter Turnout

By Alan Gerber, Mitchell Hoffman, John Morgan, and Collin Raymond

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

During the 2010 gubernatorial elections, we elicit voter beliefs about the closeness of the election before and after showing different polls, which, depending on treatment, indicate a close or not-close race. Subjects update their beliefs in response to ...

The Value of Reference Letters: Experimental Evidence from South Africa

By Martin Abel, Rulof Burger, and Patrizio Piraino

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

We show that reference letters from former employers alleviate information frictions in a low-skill labor market, improving applicant screening and gender equity. A resume audit study finds that using a reference letter in the application increases callba...

What Is the Added Value of Preschool for Poor Children? Long-Term and Intergenerational Impacts and Interactions with an Infant Health Intervention

By Maya Rossin-Slater and Miriam Wüst

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2020

We study the impact of preschool targeted at children from low-income families over the life cycle and across generations, and examine its interaction with an infant health intervention. Using Danish administrative data with variation in the timing of pro...

The Reach of Radio: Ending Civil Conflict through Rebel Demobilization

By Alex Armand, Paul Atwell, and Joseph F. Gomes

American Economic Review, May 2020

We examine the role of FM radio in mitigating violent conflict. We collect original data on radio broadcasts encouraging defections during the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) insurgency. This constitutes the first quantitative evaluation of an active counter...

Rebel radio

[Research Highlight]

June 26, 2020

Can a simple message to come home convince insurgents to leave the battlefield?

Field Experiments and the Practice of Economics

By Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee

American Economic Review, July 2020

Field Experiments and the Practice of Policy

By Esther Duflo

American Economic Review, July 2020

Experimentation, Innovation, and Economics

By Michael Kremer

American Economic Review, July 2020

The experimental method not only helps identify causal relationships, but also provides economists with a rich sense of context, focuses research on specific practical questions, stimulates collaboration with practitioners and specialists from other field...

Front Matter

American Economic Review, July 2020

Incentivized Kidney Exchange

By Tayfun Sönmez, M. Utku Ünver, and M. Bumin Yenmez

American Economic Review, July 2020

Over the last 15 years, kidney exchange has become a mainstream paradigm to increase transplants. However, compatible pairs do not participate, and full benefits from exchange can be realized only if they do. We propose incentivizing compatible pairs to p...

The Competitive Impact of Vertical Integration by Multiproduct Firms

By Fernando Luco and Guillermo Marshall

American Economic Review, July 2020

We study the impact of vertical integration on pricing incentives in multiproduct industries. To do so, we exploit recent variation in vertical structure in the US carbonated-beverage industry. While the elimination of double marginalization with vertical...

Risk Premia and the Real Effects of Money

By Sebastian Di Tella

American Economic Review, July 2020

This paper proposes a flexible-price theory of the role of money in an economy with incomplete idiosyncratic risk sharing. When the risk premium goes up, money provides a safe store of value that prevents interest rates from falling, reducing investment. ...

Relational Contracting, Negotiation, and External Enforcement

By Joel Watson, David A. Miller, and Trond E. Olsen

American Economic Review, July 2020

We study relational contracting and renegotiation in environments with external enforcement of long-term contractual arrangements. A long-term contract governs the stage games that the contracting parties will play in the future (depending on verifiable...