This chapter assesses how models with search frictions have shaped our understanding of aggregatelabor market outcomes in two contexts: business cycle fluctuations and long-run (trend) changes. Wefirst consolidate data on aggregate labor market outcomes for a large set of OECD countries. We...

We investigate the relationship between financial integration and output volatility at micro and macrolevels. Using a very large firm-level dataset from EU countries over time, we construct a measureof "deep" financial integration at the regional level based on foreign ownership at the firm...

Carbon control policies in OECD countries commonly differentiate emission prices in favor of energy-intensiveindustries. While leakage provides a efficiency argument for differential emission pricing, the lattermay be a disguised beggar-thy-neighbor policy to exploit terms of trade. Using an...

This paper describes a series of school-based randomized trials in over 250 urban schools designedto test the impact of financial incentives on student achievement. In stark contrast to simple economicmodels, our results suggest that student incentives increase achievement when the rewards are...

Estimates of the marginal product of capital can help forecast economic growth, test competing businesscycle theories, and perform cost-benefit analysis. This paper presents annual and quarterly estimatesof the marginal product of capital in the U.S. separately for the residential and...

In addition to traditional forms of private and public medical insurance, two other large programshelp pay for costs associated with ill health. In 2007, Workers Compensation (WC) insurance provided$55.4 billion in medical care and cash benefits to employees who are injured at work or contract...

How important is financial development for economic development? A costly state verification modelof financial intermediation is presented to address this question. The model is calibrated to match factsabout the U.S. economy, such as intermediation spreads and the firm-size distribution for the...

I argue that progress in understanding economic development (as in other branches of economics)must come from the investigation of mechanisms; the associated empirical analysis can usefully employa wide range of experimental and non-experimental methods. I discuss three different areas of...

This paper measures the extent to which prices exceed marginal costs in the U.S. natural gas distributionmarket during the period 1991-2007. We find large departures from marginal cost pricing in all 50states, with residential and commercial customers facing average markups of over 40%. Based...

The remote inland province of Shanxi was late Qing dynasty China’s paramount banking center. Itsremoteness and China’s almost complete isolation from foreign influence at the time lead historiansto posit a Chinese invention of modern banking. However, Shanxi merchants ran a tea trade...