Many new blockchain applications rely on the “stake-and-slash” mechanism to align incentives. We point out that the design of such “contracting” problems can not be detached from the details of the decentralized consensus formation process. To illustrate our theoretical argument, we...

I analyze the effects of ethnic divisions on the provision of public goods in countries throughout the world. Using OpenStreetMap data, I construct a new, global dataset that pinpoints locations of public amenities, such as schools, hospitals, and libraries. I devise two new proxies to address...

Fiscal federalism theorists have long been intrigued by the relationship between fiscal decentralization and poverty. Few people, however, consider cross-country research of similar linkages in developing countries. This research will provide new empirical evidence on the relationship between...

We have entered an era where the importance of decentralized solutions has become more obvious. Blockchain technology and its derivatives are distributed ledger technologies that keep the registry of data between peers of a network. This ledger is secured within a successive over looping...

Competition regulators have identified the potential for blockchain technology to disrupt traditional sponsor-led platforms, like app stores, that have received increased antitrust scrutiny. Enforcement actions by securities regulators, however, have forced blockchain-based platforms to adopt a...

Blockchain systems allow for securely keeping shared records of transactions in a decentralized way. This is enabled by consensus mechanisms. Proof-of-work is the most prominent consensus mechanism but has major shortcomings. In this paper, we focus on proof-of-stake, its best-known alternative....

The emergence of so-called “decentralised finance” (DeFi) and a shadow financial system of cryptocurrency exchanges and stablecoin issuers raises the challenge of how to apply technology-neutral regulation so that similar risks are subject to the same rules. This paper makes the case for...

Despite the past decade’s rapid innovation in adapting blockchain technology to new uses, financial intermediation remains elusive except in basic and highly collateralized forms. We introduce the concept of the technical frontier to delimit the kinds of interactions that can feasibly be...