In this paper we investigate the relationship between informal institutions – proxied for by measures of religiosity – and the gap between male and female incomes in the U.S. states, using Pew U.S. Religious Landscape Survey data, and Census Bureau estimates of male and female median...

This paper investigates the relationships among slavery, economic freedom and economic development across former slave-exporting states in Africa, using country-level slave export data from Nunn (2008a), the Fraser Institute's Economic Freedom of the World index, and per capita real GDP from the...

In this paper we model interstate trade in US shadow economies using a traditional gravity model, updated to control for factors that encourage (discourage) underground exchange among formal sector trading partners. Using data on interstate trade flow from the US Census Bureau, and state-level...

This paper investigates the relationship between economic freedom and income growth and inequality across U.S. states over the period 1979 to 2011. The focus is on market income at the top and bottom of the income distribution. Results show that increases in overall freedom are associated with...

This paper offers a new theory of the corruption-shadow economy relationship: one that defines it as either collusive – i.e., crony – or non-collusive. Using new estimates of state-level shadow economy size, and data on corruption convictions of U.S. public officials for the 48 contiguous...

If donor country citizens are altruistic, their support for foreign aid will be instrumental and the (perceived) effects of a donor’s aid can be enjoyed non- rivalrously by citizens of all countries. Alternatively, donor country citizens may achieve a “warm-glow” from their own...

We use the sensitivity of bank holding company equity returns to market interest rates as an indicator of perceived maturity mismatch. Based on data from 1990 to 2009, there is only weak evidence that market participants perceived banks to be effectively short-funded. However, looking at 1990 to...

Recent literatures on entrepreneurship and economic growth estimate the empirical relationships between the following pairs of variables: (1) institutions and entrepreneurial activity; (2) institutions and economic growth; and (3) entrepreneurship and economic growth.This paper revisits each of...