The New Economics of Religion

By Sriya Iyer

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

The economics of religion is a relatively new field of research in economics. This survey serves two purposes--it is backward-looking in that it traces the historical and sociological origins of this field, and it is forward-looking in that it examines th...

The Economics of Privacy

By Alessandro Acquisti, Curtis Taylor, and Liad Wagman

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

This article summarizes and draws connections among diverse streams of theoretical and empirical research on the economics of privacy. We focus on the economic value and consequences of protecting and disclosing personal information, and on consumers' und...

The Characterological Imperative: On Heckman, Humphries, and Kautz's The Myth of Achievement Tests: The GED and the Role of Character in American Life

By Robert J. Sampson

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

James J. Heckman, John Eric Humphries, and Tim Kautz make a powerful case for noncognitive skills--or what they conceptualize as character--as an explanation of educational achievement and other important outcomes in life. They do so while exposing the my...

Review Essay on British Economic Growth, 1270-1870 by Stephen Broadberry, Bruce M. S. Campbell, Alexander Klein, Mark Overton, and Bas van Leeuwen

By Jeffrey G. Williamson

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

British Economic Growth, 1270-1870 makes a big leap forward in our understanding of the long-run performance of what became the leading nineteenth-century economy and the workshop of the world. It does so by implementing a giant quantitative ente...

Review of Cultural Evolution: Society, Technology, Language, and Religion Edited by Peter J. Richerson and Morten H. Christiansen

By Paola Giuliano

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

Peter J. Richerson and Morten H. Christiansen have assembled a compelling picture of the evolution of societies, technology, language, and religion--with culture at the epicenter. The book is a must-have for economists and any other social scientists inte...

Complexity and Economic Policy: A Paradigm Shift or a Change in Perspective? A Review Essay on David Colander and Roland Kupers's Complexity and the Art of Public Policy

By Alan Kirman

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

In their recent book, Colander and Kupers (2014) argue that viewing the economy as a complex adaptive system should change the way in which we make economic policy. This would necessitate a paradigm shift. Economics has, over time, tried to produce a cohe...

A Review Essay on GDP: A Brief but Affectionate History by Diane Coyle

By Moshe Syrquin

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

GDP, the most fundamental concept of aggregate economics, is often misunderstood and misused. In a brief book, Diane Coyle attempts to demystify and clarify the concept by providing what she calls "an affectionate history." The product is a lucid and clea...

Book Reviews

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

Annotated Listing of New Books

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

JEL Classification System

Journal of Economic Literature, June 2016

Front Matter

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

Do Fiscal Rules Matter?

By Veronica Grembi, Tommaso Nannicini, and Ugo Troiano

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

Fiscal rules are laws aimed at reducing the incentive to accumulate debt, and many countries adopt them to discipline local governments. Yet, their effectiveness is disputed because of commitment and enforcement problems. We study their impact applying a ...

The Impact of Disability Benefits on Labor Supply: Evidence from the VA's Disability Compensation Program

By David H. Autor, Mark Duggan, Kyle Greenberg, and David S. Lyle

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

Combining administrative data from the US Army, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Social Security Administration, we analyze the effect of the VA's Disability Compensation (DC) program on veterans' labor force participation and earnings. We study the 20...

The Long-Term Effects of the Printing Press in Sub-Saharan Africa

By Julia Cagé and Valeria Rueda

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

This article investigates the long-term consequences of the printing press in the nineteenth century sub-Saharan Africa on social capital nowadays. Protestant missionaries were the first to import the printing press and to allow the indigenous population ...

The Impact of Women's Health Clinic Closures on Preventive Care

By Yao Lu and David J. G. Slusky

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

We examine the impact of women's health clinic closures on women's preventive care use in Texas and Wisconsin using a unique policy context, data on clinic street addresses, and confidential respondent ZIP codes from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillanc...

Does Merger Simulation Work? Evidence from the Swedish Analgesics Market

By Jonas Björnerstedt and Frank Verboven

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

We analyze a large merger in the Swedish market for analgesics (painkillers). The merging firms raised prices by 40 percent, and some outsiders raised prices by more than 10 percent. We confront these changes with predictions from a merger simulation mode...

Regulation of Insurance with Adverse Selection and Switching Costs: Evidence from Medicare Part D

By Maria Polyakova

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

I take advantage of regulatory and pricing dynamics in Medicare Part D to explore interactions among adverse selection, inertia, and regulation. I first document novel evidence of adverse selection and switching frictions within Part D using detailed admi...

Do Employer Pension Contributions Reflect Employee Preferences? Evidence from a Retirement Savings Reform in Denmark

By Itzik Fadlon, Jessica Laird, and Torben Heien Nielsen

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

This paper studies how firms set contributions to employer provided 401(k)-type pension plans. Using a reform that decreased the subsidy to contributions to capital pension accounts for Danish workers in the top income tax bracket, we provide strong evide...

Race, Ethnicity, and Discriminatory Zoning

By Allison Shertzer, Tate Twinam, and Randall P. Walsh

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

Zoning policies can have marked impacts on the spatial distribution of people and land use, yet there is little systematic evidence on their origin. Investigating the causes of these regulations is complicated by the fact that land use and zoning have bee...

Parental Job Loss and Children's Long-Term Outcomes: Evidence from 7 Million Fathers' Layoffs

By Nathaniel G. Hilger

American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, July 2016

How do parental layoffs and their large attendant income losses affect children's long-term outcomes? This question has proven difficult to answer due to the endogeneity of parental layoffs. I overcome this problem by exploiting the timing of 7 million fa...