This paper studies the link between television and divorce in Brazil by exploiting variation in the timing of availability of the signal of Rede Globo - the network that had a virtual monopoly on telenovelas in the country - across municipal areas. Using three rounds of Census data (1970, 1980...

We use retail scanner data on purchases of high calorie food to study the link between recreational marijuana laws (RMLs) and consumption of high calorie food. To do this we exploit differences in the timing of introduction of marijuana laws among states and find that they are complements....

Die Autoren vergleichen den formellen und informellen Sektor in den städtischen Gebieten Perus seit Anfang der 90er Jahre, als es zu einschneidenden Strukturanpassungsmaßnahmen kam. Sie zeigen dabei auf, wie unterschiedliche Interpretationen des Begriffes Informalität zu abweichenden...

This paper uses a large cross-country survey of business firms to assess their influence on government policies. It is found that influence is associated with larger, government-owned firms that have a high degree of ownership concentration. In contrast, foreign ownership matters little. It is...

A growing body of recent macroeconomic evidence suggests that volatility is detrimental to economic growth. The channels through which volatility affects growth, however, are less clear; substantive evidence based on disaggregate data is almost non-existent. This paper offers a framework in...