Social Ties and the Selection of China's Political Elite

By Raymond Fisman, Jing Shi, Yongxiang Wang, and Weixing Wu

American Economic Review, June 2020

We study how sharing a hometown or college connection with an incumbent member of China's Politburo affects a candidate's likelihood of selection as a new member. In specifications that include fixed effects to absorb quality differences across cities and...

Revealed Preferences over Risk and Uncertainty

By Matthew Polisson, John K.-H. Quah, and Ludovic Renou

American Economic Review, June 2020

We develop a nonparametric method, called Generalized Restriction of Infinite Domains (GRID), for testing the consistency of budgetary choice data with models of choice under risk and under uncertainty. Our test can allow for risk-loving and elation-seeki...

Is the Cure Worse Than the Disease? Unintended Effects of Payment Reform in a Quantity-Based Transfer Program

By Katherine Meckel

American Economic Review, June 2020

Quantity vouchers are used in redistributive programs to shield participants from price variation and alter their consumption patterns. However, because participants are insensitive to prices, vendors of program goods are incentivized to price discriminat...

Report of Independent Auditor

American Economic Review, June 2020

Oliver E. Williamson (1932-2020)

[News]

May 28, 2020

The Nobel Laureate's work focused on the structure of organizations.

CTREE Conference 2020 - Cancelled

[Page]

Initially scheduled for May 27–29, 2020, Chicago, IL

Front Matter

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

Optimal Quality Certification

By Andriy Zapechelnyuk

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

Quality certification not only informs consumers but also stimulates producers to supply better-quality products. We study a problem of quality certification in a moral hazard setting. We show that, under standard assumptions, simple certification systems...

Ambiguity, Nominal Bond Yields, and Real Bond Yields

By Guihai Zhao

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

This paper presents an equilibrium bond-pricing model that jointly explains the upward-sloping nominal and real yield curves and the violation of the expectations hypothesis. Instead of relying on the inflation risk premium, the ambiguity-averse agent fac...

Statistical Nonsignificance in Empirical Economics

By Alberto Abadie

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

Statistical significance is often interpreted as providing greater information than nonsignificance. In this article we show, however, that rejection of a point null often carries very little information, while failure to reject may be highly informative....

Long-Run Effects from Comprehensive Student Support: Evidence from Pathways to Education

By Adam M. Lavecchia, Philip Oreopoulos, and Robert S. Brown

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

Offering comprehensive education support services to disadvantaged students shows promise for improving academic attainment. We explore longer-term impacts of the Pathways to Education program, a set of coaching, tutoring, group activities, and financial ...

Designing Call Auction Institutions to Eliminate Price Bubbles: Is English Dutch the Best?

By Cary Deck, Maroš Servátka, and Steven Tucker

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

The bubble-and-burst pattern in asset markets is among the most replicable results in experimental economics. Using controlled laboratory experiments, we compare mispricing in markets organized by standard double auction rules with mispricing in markets o...

Earnings Risk in the Household: Evidence from Millions of US Tax Returns

By Seth Pruitt and Nicholas Turner

American Economic Review: Insights, June 2020

Using detailed Internal Revenue Service administrative data on millions of households, we find that households effectively insure against much of the risk facing primary earners. We show that households face less risk than males alone, and households face...

Submissions open for the 2020 TIAA Paul A. Samuelson Award

[News]

May 29, 2020

Submissions must be postmarked by September 7, 2020.

Tariff exemptions and political connections

[Research Highlight]

May 29, 2020

Why do special economic zones exist?

Why Special Economic Zones? Using Trade Policy to Discriminate across Importers

By Matthew Grant

American Economic Review, May 2020

Tariffs are generally assumed to depend on the product, not the identity of the importer. However, special economic zones are a common, economically important policy used worldwide to lower tariffs on selected goods for selected manufacturers. I show this...

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2020

Measuring Time Preferences

By Jonathan Cohen, Keith Marzilli Ericson, David Laibson, and John Myles White

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2020

We review research that measures time preferences—i.e., preferences over intertemporal trade-offs. We distinguish between studies using financial flows, which we call "money earlier or later" (MEL) decisions, and studies that use time-dated consumption/...

The Economics of Language

By Victor Ginsburgh and Shlomo Weber

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2020

This paper brings together methodological, theoretical, and empirical analysis into the framework of linguistic diversity. It reflects both historical and contemporary research by economists and other social scientists on the impact of language on economi...

Radical Markets by Eric Posner and E. Glen Weyl: A Review Essay

By David K. Levine

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2020

At a time when standards of living have improved more than any time in history, this book makes a proposal for radical change. It is based—loosely—on market design principles. The plan for attacking overlapping ownership is reasonably well thought out...