We propose a simple model of trade outside the law preyed on by robbers and possiblyprotected by private cops. We establish the conditions for trade collapse, secure trade andinsecure trade. Endogenous predation and enforcement can explain both puzzling failures ofcommonly observed state...

The fact that raising taxes can increase taxed labor supply through income effects is frequently used to justify greater public good provision than indicated by traditional, compensated analyses. We develop a model including multiple public goods and taxes and derive consistent measures of the...

Most empirical policy work requires the aggregation of policies. Trade policyaggregation exemplifies the aggregation problem poignantly, with thousands of highlydispersed trade barriers. This paper provides methods of policy aggregation that areconsistent with two common objectives of empirical...

The recent public economics literature involves an apparent consensus that income effects reduce the costs of raising revenues and hence increase the desirable level of public good provision. Higher taxes can indeed reduce the demand for leisure - and hence increase the supply of taxed labor -...

A structural gravity model is used to estimate barriers to services trade across many sectors, countries, and time. Since the disaggregated output data needed to infer border barriers flexibly are often missing for services, this paper derives a novel methodology for projecting output data. The...