This paper measures the extent to which prices exceed marginal costs in the U.S. natural gas distributionmarket during the period 1991-2007. We find large departures from marginal cost pricing in all 50states, with residential and commercial customers facing average markups of over 40%. Based...

This paper discusses methods for the harmonization and combination of large-scale patent and trademarkdatasets with each other and other sources of data. Dictionary- and rule-based approaches to the consolidationof applicant names in patent data are presented and shown to have both benefits and...

Adverse shocks to stock markets propagate across the world, with a jump in one region of the worldseemingly causing an increase in the likelihood of a different jump in another region of the world.To capture this effect mathematically, we introduce a model for asset return dynamics with a...

The paper studies a fiscal policy instrument that can reduce fiscal distortions without affecting revenues,in a politically viable way. The instrument is a private contract (tax buyout), offered by the governmentto each citizen, whereby the citizen can choose to pay a fixed price in exchange for...

This essay discusses the policy debate concerning optimal taxation and the distribution of income.It begins with a brief overview of trends in income inequality, the leading hypothesis to explain thesetrends, and the distribution of the tax burden. It then considers the framework that economists...

We build a model of the financial sector to explain why adverse asset shocks in good economic timeslead to a sudden drying up of liquidity. Financial firms raise short-term debt in order to finance assetpurchases. When asset fundamentals worsen, debt induces firms to risk-shift; this limits...