It is now widely believed that government intervention is essential to ensure Pareto efficiency in the standard overlapping generations economy with nonaltruistic agents. This paper argues that the normal profit-seeking activities of {\it private intermediaries\/}---missing from the standard...

Chang (2011) raises doubts about the effects of institutions on economic development and questions the positive effects of entirely free markets based on secure private property rights. We respond by stressing that institutions structure the incentives underlying individual action, secure...

States have soft budget constraints when they can expect a bailout by the federal government in the event of a financial crisis. This gives rise to incentives for unsound state fiscal policy. We test whether states with softer budget constraints have higher debt and deficits, receive more...

Data cooperatives are a type of data intermediary using long established cooperative models and global regulatory affordances to manage data with or on behalf of members (data producers) for the benefit of members or for trade with external queriers (data users).

By modifying the incentive structure, taxes affect human behavior. I investigate how the German income tax code influences the timing of civil marriages. The German income tax code contains provisions from which married couples stand to benefit relative to unmarried couples. If their individual...