Trust is an important determinant of economic development. Understanding its origins is therefore critical. We develop a principal-agent model with heterogeneous players to determine the aggregate amount of trustworthiness and trust in a society. People are distributed according to their...

We create a dataset of country experience with economic depression around the world. We define a depression episode as a period of cumulative decline in per capita output of 20% or more lasting at least four years. We find depressions are surprisingly common. We describe their incidence and...

We develop a theory that explains how two core values – Respect for others and Responsibility – affect productivity, the accumulation of capital, and output per worker. Using data from the World Values Survey, we empirically test the model using a panel dataset that includes 82 countries...

The term (or number of days) until a 1-month forward contract is delivered may play a systematic role in the empirical estimates of the coefficient on the forward premium in tests of forward foreign exchange rate unbiasedness. These term effects arise because a 1-month forward contract is not...

The difference between data used in empirical studies and that envisioned in the theory can influence empirical estimates, sometimes by enough that the direction of future research is altered. This paper illustrates how, in the context of tests of forward rate unbiasedness, a lack of...