Given the large size of aggregate remittance flows (billions of dollars annually), they should be expected to have significant macroeconomic effects on the economies that receive them. This paper directly addresses the two main issues of interest to policymakers with regard to remittances--how...

We estimate the impact of the recent global economic crisis on remittances into Africa for the period 2009-2010. Interestingly, the majority of remittances seem to flow within the African continent. The magnitude of the forecast decreases in remittance flows into African countries varies between...

A market for used capital goods, or financial instruments that represent the ownership of the used capital goods, induces inflation taxes on wealth and on the nominal income flows they provide. This paper explicitly introduces trading in either used capital goods or financial instruments into...

(Copyright: Elsevier)

Private income transfers are increasingly viewed as an alternative to government income transfers such as social insurance and foreign aid. This paper models the incentive effects of government-subsidized private transfers and finds that although there is a significant welfare benefit to...

The role of remittances in development and economic growth is not well understood. This is partly because the literatures on the causes and effects of remittances remain separate. We develop a framework that links the motivation for remittances with their effect on economic activity. Because...

Private transfers between individuals or through organized charities are increasingly viewed as an alternative for government social insurance programs. This paper models the incentive effects of government subsidized private transfers and finds that while there is a significant welfare benefit...

Charitable giving, which is generally intended to serve as nonmarket insurance, is large and pervasive. Two thirds of all households gave charitable gifts in 1995, the sum of which was over $100 billion. Stiglitz (1987), Kaplow (1995) and others argue that gift giving should be subsidized...

This paper argues that the stock market is an important channel of monetary policy. Monetary policy affects real economic activity because inflation levies a property tax on stocks in addition to an income tax on dividend payments. Inflation thus taxes stocks more heavily than it does bonds....

Agency problems within the firm are a significant hindrance to efficiency. We propose trust between coworkers as a superior alternative to the standard tools used to mitigate agency problems: increased monitoring and incentive-based pay. We show how trust induces employees to work harder,...