This article analyzes the specifications of option pricing models based on time-changed Levy processes. We classify option pricing models based on (i) the structure of the jump component in the underlying return process, (ii) the source of stochastic volatility, and (iii) the specification of...

The fact that weak instruments lead to spurious inference is now widely recognized. In this paper we ask whether spurious inference occurs more generally in weakly identified models. To distinguish between models where spurious inference will occur from those where it does not, we introduce the...

This paper develops and estimates a dynamic model of employment and child care decisions of women after birth in order to evaluate the effects of mothers' decisions on children's cognitive ability. I use data from the NLSY to estimate the model. The results suggest that the effects of maternal...

Researchers and state policymakers have hypothesized that the elderly may move to another state to avoid paying “death” (i.e., inheritance, estate, gift) taxes. This belief may be responsible for the recent revolution in state “death” tax policy whereby 30 states have eliminated their...

A firm can merge with one of n potential partners. The owner of each firm has private information about both his firm's stand-alone value and a component of the synergies that would be realized by the merger involving his firm. We characterize incentive-efficient mechanisms in two cases. First,...

This paper reports an experiment involving two mechanisms that allocate a single unit of an indivisible private good among two players, at no cost to either of them. Both mechanisms, proposed by Moore (1992) and Perry and Reny (1999), are compared in terms of their relative performance to assign...

Within the heterogeneous independent private values model, we analyze bidder collusion at first and second price single-object auctions, allowing for within-cartel transfers. Our primary focus is on (i) coalitions that contain a strict subset of all bidders and (ii) collusive mechanisms that do...

How do informational asymmetries between bidders affect the outcome of common value auctions? Should the seller accept bids from bidders with more precise information? If so, under what conditions? What effect do such asymmetries have on the seller’s expected revenue? We analyze these...

We exploit the 1980 earthquake in southern Italy and the subsequent relief from mandatory military service granted to all males in the regions hit by the seism to estimate the strength of endogenous social interactions in schooling achievements. Preliminary results point to a significant and...

This paper aims at identifying the main shocks, which cause movements in real GNP. It does so by searching for two shocks in the context of a VAR model, which explain the majority of the k-step ahead prediction error variances in real GNP for horizons between 0 and 5 years. We find that two...