Fiscal decentralization is likely to entail a bias in the budget process toward higher public expenses and deficits. The paper reviews lessons drawn from the theoretical literature and international experience on the design of intergovernmental relations. The institutional setup should address...

This exercise simulates routine list-testing decisions made by direct marketers. It presents students with 10 lists of 50,000 names each and a budget allowing them to mail to only half the available names. To discourage complicated sequential testing plans, the students are required to write out...

States have soft budget constraints when they can expect a bailout by the federal government in the event of a financial crisis. This gives rise to incentives for unsound state fiscal policy. We test whether states with softer budget constraints have higher debt and deficits, receive more...

Using the Cox proportional hazards model this paper empirically investigates how migration of household members and the receipt of remittances affect educational outcomes in Haiti. Based on a theoretical approach it tries to disentangle the effects of both phenomena that have mostly been jointly...