Optimal Regulation of E-cigarettes: Theory and Evidence

By Hunt Allcott and Charlie Rafkin

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, November 2022

We model optimal e-cigarette regulation and estimate key parameters. Using tax changes and scanner data, we estimate relatively elastic demand. A demographic shift-share identification strategy suggests limited substitution between e-cigarettes and cigare...

Hungry for Success? SNAP Timing, High-Stakes Exam Performance, and College Attendance

By Timothy N. Bond, Jillian B. Carr, Analisa Packham, and Jonathan Smith

American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, November 2022

Monthly government transfer programs create cycles of consumption that track the timing of benefit receipt. If these cycles correspond to critical moments for student learning and achievement, the timing of transfers may have important long-run implicatio...

How Merchant Towns Shaped Parliaments: From the Norman Conquest of England to the Great Reform Act

By Charles Angelucci, Simone Meraglia, and Nico Voigtländer

American Economic Review, October 2022

We study the emergence of urban self-governance in the late medieval period. We focus on England after the Norman Conquest of 1066, building a novel comprehensive dataset of 554 medieval towns. During the Commercial Revolution (twelfth to thirteenth centu...

Protecting vulnerable kids

[Research Highlight]

August 18, 2022

Joseph Doyle discusses the history and economics of foster care in the United States.

Trading places

[Research Highlight]

September 06, 2022

How much does trade impact urbanization?

School bullying, cyberbullying, and remote learning

[Research Highlight]

September 14, 2022

Andrew Bacher-Hicks and Joshua Goodman discuss the effects of the pandemic on bullying.

Local elections in China

[Research Highlight]

September 30, 2022

Why do autocracies sometimes use democratic institutions?

Fundraising Appeals and the Lift/Shift Question

[Research Highlight]

October 19, 2022

Sarah Smith discusses the impact of major fundraising interventions on overall charitable donations.

Inflation expectations and economic outcomes

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How did inflation and inflation expectations change during the COVID-19 pandemic?

Housing debt and mobility

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Do underwater mortgages stop people from moving?

The equity of taxing tobacco

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How regressive are cigarette taxes?

Testing the pollution-haven hypothesis

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Do tighter environmental regulations in developed countries shift polluting activities to developing countries?

The economic origins of self-governance

[Research Highlight]

November 01, 2022

How did commerce in England influence parliamentary representation?

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2022

Debt Revenue and the Sustainability of Public Debt

[Symposium: The Size of Government Debt]

By Ricardo Reis

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2022

While public debt has risen in the last two decades, the return that it offers to investors has fallen, especially relative to the return on private investment. This creates a revenue for the government as the supplier of the special services offered by p...

Fiscal Histories

[Symposium: The Size of Government Debt]

By John H. Cochrane

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 2022

The fiscal theory states that inflation adjusts so that the real value of government debt equals the present value of real primary surpluses. Monetary policy remains important. The central bank can set an interest rate target, which determines the path of...