Policymakers and researchers are increasingly interested in using experimental methods to inform the design of social policy. The most common approach, at least in developed countries, is to carry out large-scale randomized trials of the policies of interest, or what we call here policy...

This paper empirically examines the role of social networks in welfare participation. Social theorists from across the political spectrum have argued that network effects have given rise to a culture of poverty. Empirical work, however, has found it difficult to distinguish the effect of...

We investigate the impact of changes in states' anti-takeover legislation on executive compensation.

In this paper, we use states' passage of anti-takeover legislation as a source of such independent variation. Passed in the 1980s, these laws serioulsy limited takeovers of firms incorporated in legislating states. Since many view hostile takeovers as an important disciplining device, these laws...