In the absence of capable government services, a railroad company in Texas and cotton mills in North Carolina successfully prevented malaria in the early twentieth century. This essay looks through the lens of economics to understand how and why people had the incentive to privately coordinate...

The spread of COVID-19 provides a unique opportunity to explore the interactive effect of formal and informal rules. While economists and public health scholars realize the independent effects social capital and stringent public health rules have on prevalence and mortality rates, we advance...

The on-going debate regarding in-kind versus cash transfers to low-income people focuses on normal settings, devoid of the additional constraints imposed during a crisis. We analyze the effect of welfare regulations on SNAP and WIC recipients in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and related herd...