Household consumption and welfare are more strongly associated with lifetime income, but most countries base income taxes on current income and use progressive taxes to reduce inequality and provide social insurance. Is lifetime income a better tax base for a government seeking to provide social...

My research suggests that world inequality is explained by the incidence of extractive and inclusive institutions. But why do some countries have extractive institutions? I distinguish between two main reasons; first, power relations; second, the "normative order." Normative orders provide...

The slow adoption of climate change policies stems from concerns about their economic impact. The EU has led global carbon pricing through its Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). This study examines the effect of ETS policy shocks on global stock market returns at the country-industry level using...

Public service reforms often provoke political backlash. Can they also yield political benefits for the politicians who champion them? We study a Wisconsin law that weakened teachers' unions and liberalized pay, prompting mass protests. Exploiting its staggered implementation across school...

Auctioneers suspecting bidder collusion often lack the formal evidence needed for legal recourse. A practical alternative is to design auctions that hinder collusion. Since Abreu et al. (1986), economic theory has emphasized imperfect monitoring as a constraint on collusion, but evidence remains...

How good is AI at persuading humans to perform costly actions? We study calls made to get delinquent consumer borrowers to repay. Regression discontinuity and a randomized experiment reveal that AI is substantially less effective than human callers. Replacing AI with humans six days into...

Training investments are essential for improving worker and firm productivity, yet their implementation is often hindered by low participation rates and insufficient worker engagement. This study uses data from three firms--a car manufacturer, a quick-service restaurant chain, and a retail...

Using limitations to the deductibility of interest payments triggered by the introduction of interest ceiling rules globally, we show that affected private firms reduce leverage relative to unaffected firms. In support of a causal effect of taxes on corporate capital structure choices, we show...

We study the forces driving polarization and higher wage inequality since 1980 using a structural model of occupation choice in the tradition of Roy (1951). In our model, changes in relative occupational skill prices proxy for changes in relative demand for occupational labor services. Our...

Why is in-kind aid a prominent feature of welfare systems? We present a lab-in-the-field experiment involving members of the general U.S. population and SNAP recipients. After documenting a widespread desire to limit recipients' choices, we quantify the relative importance of (i) welfarist...