This paper models the midlife crisis as a decision on whether and when to realize a life dream, incorporating the key components of three psychology theories of midlife crises. It explains why a crisis (dream realization) tends to occur in the midlife if it occurs at all. Other results include...

Rettenmaier and Saving propose a means for preserving Medicare as we know it. After detailing the reasons for Medicare's financial troubles, they present a cohort-based financing plan for Medicare that represents a fundamental departure from the generation transfer method currently used.

This study uses the Continuous Medicare History Sample (CMHS), a longitudinal sample of Medicare beneficiaries from 1974 to 1997, to identify persistence in Medicare reimbursements. Consistent estimates of Medicare reimbursement persistence are obtained using a dynamic panel Tobit model. Lagged...

Louis Kaplow argues in his recent paper that there are a wide variety of situations in which the income tax financing of a public good is nondistortionary. Specifically, this occurs when the additional tax liability of each person equals that person's additional benefit from the public good. We...

This paper studies the allocation of a given time budget among a number of skill-building efforts to maximize an overall skill level. The main finding is that as an effort becomes relatively more effective, the time share of the effort should increase and the time shares of the other efforts...

I study the limits of mediated conflict resolution when: states have incentives to misrepresent private information; mediators may have limited capacity to enforce agreement; and political leaders in crisis bargaining situations are subject to domestic constraints. With a mechanism design...