We examine demands for rewards and punishments in a simple proposer-responder game. The proposer first makes an offer to split a fixed-sized pie. According to the 2 x 2 design, the responder is or is not given a costly option of increasing or decreasing the proposer's payout. We find substantial...

We propose a set of algorithms for testing the ergodicity of empirical time series, without reliance on a specific parametric framework. It is shown that the resulting test asymptotically obtains the correct size for stationary and nonstationary processes, and maximal power against non-ergodic...

Several recent articles have shown that the efficient outcome for bilateral trade, even in the face of specific investments and incomplete contracting, can be supported with appropriately-designed contracts. These studies have, for the most part, restricted attention to so called "selfish"...

This paper exploits a natural experiment provided by the pattern of payroll taxation in the U.S. to test whether household consumption responds to predictable changes in after-tax income.