We study the stock exchange rivalry between the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and the Consolidated Stock Exchange (Consolidated) from 1885 to 1926 using a new database of bid-ask spreads and stock data collected from The New York Times and other primary sources. The magnitude of this important,...

We analyze GDP estimates for Italy, Portugal, and Spain during the period 1850-1913. The time series analysis indicates that Italy experienced a break in trend growth during the late 1890s while Spain had constant, deterministic growth during this period. Economic growth in Portugal is...

The paper explains the fall in the NAIRU from more than six pecent in the '80s to below five percent in the '90s. There is a high degree of persistence in unemployment rates across U.S. states over longer time spans. We use cross-sectional and time-series variations in U.S. regional unemployment...

We examine conditions under which group consumption is likely to involve informal and tacit reciprocity agreements rather than formal contracts and the price system. Our model shows that informal reciprocity agreements are more likely to be used when transaction costs of formal agreements are...

This paper explains why so many real life phenomena generate regression towards the mean or mean reversion results. We start our analysis by revisiting Galton's original paper on the height of children and the height of parents. We then show that the regression towards the mean result also holds...

Under the educational sorting hypothesis, an environment in which some individuals are constrained from entering university will be characterized by increased pooling at the high school graduation level, as compared to an environment with greater university access.This results because some...

Capitation models have been suggested as an alternative to funding methods baseed on historical utilization patterns. Capitation funding distributes resources to regions or programs according to their population, adjusted for the age and gender composition and relative need. The most commonly...

The Chinese inflation of 1949-1950 was fueled by large budget deficits but was ended in March 1950 before significant deficit reduction occurred. We discuss the fiscal strains that gave rise to this inflation and consider the role played by early Communist market-based anti-inflationary measures...

Buchanan's contributions through 1984 are surveyed in six areas: (A) debt, fiscal illusion, and Keynesian criticisms, (B) London School of Economics cost approach, (C) methodological individualism and the economics of politics, (D) welfare price theory, (E) rent-seeking and polity failure, and...