Abstract We compare a net‐revenue maximizing legislator's criminalization and punishment decisions to the optimal choices. The legislator over‐criminalizes and over‐punishes all criminalized acts when the degree to which it internalizes harms from crimes increases proportionally with the harm. An analysis of Eighth‐Amendment review, in the form of upper‐bounds on fines, reveals that it can both reduce fines to their optimal levels and remove the legislator's incentives to inefficiently criminalize low‐harm acts in the first place. These results provide a rationale for asymmetric judicial review wherein upper‐bounds are imposed on punishment, but lower‐bounds are not.

Abstract We consider infrastructure provision by a foreign investor when the domestic bureaucracy is corrupt, but also cares for domestic welfare. Bureaucrats bargain with the investor over price and (potentially) bribes, both before the investment is sunk and afterwards, using the threat of expropriation. We show that domestic welfare may be greater in equilibria with bribery than in equilibria without. We specify conditions under which changes in the degree of bureaucratic centralization or of bureaucratic care have a positive, negative, or nonmonotonic effect on domestic welfare. The impact of centralization on domestic welfare is mediated through the level of bureaucratic care.

Abstract This paper studies the asymmetric effects of sectoral shifts on economic performance under low and high uncertainty using US data. A sectoral shift is found to induce more depressed economic activity under high uncertainty relative to under low uncertainty. These effects are statistically different across the two uncertainty regimes and are not driven solely by recessions. A tractable two‐sector dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with sectoral shifts and stochastic volatility is able to qualitatively explain these empirical findings.

We show that for the least‐developed countries (LDCs), the number of exporters is relatively more important than the average exporter size for explaining both export growth and economic development. To guide our analysis, we develop a theoretical model that links the impact of productivity shocks to institutional differences between country groups. Empirically, we find a positive relationship between the extensive margin and economic development for LDCs, but not for middle‐income and high‐income economies; and, on the intensive margin, the relationship is strongest for high‐income countries. The findings imply that the drivers of export growth and economic development for the poorest countries differ significantly from growth drivers in other country groups.( JEL F12, F43, O47)

This paper studies private school market behavior. If school quality is a normal good and schools have market power, profit‐maximizing schools may lower enrollment when incomes rise given parents' preferences for small class sizes and high‐socioeconomic status (SES) classmates. To demonstrate the possibility of such a response, I present simulations based on a stylized model of school pricing. Using data on local income variation in Chile, I show that positive income shocks cause private school prices to rise and enrollments to fall. Enrollment declines are concentrated among low‐SES students, who do not experience the same test score gains as their higher‐SES peers. (JEL I24, L1, O15)

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act waived work requirements nationally in 2010 and broadened waiver eligibility in subsequent years for Able‐Bodied Adults without Dependents (ABAWDs) receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits. From 2011 to 2017, many states voluntarily imposed work requirements, while other areas became ineligible for waivers because of improved economic conditions. Using data from the American Community Survey from 2010 to 2017, I analyze the influence of work requirements on employment and SNAP participation for ABAWDs. I find that work requirements increased employment for ABAWDs and also significantly decreased SNAP participation.(JEL J21, J68, H42)

This study explores the impact of Shelter‐in‐Place Orders (SIPOs) on health, with attention to heterogeneity in their impacts. First, using daily state‐level social distancing data, we document that adoption of a SIPO was associated with a 9%–10% increase in the rate at which state residents remained in their homes full‐time. Using daily state‐level coronavirus case data, we find that approximately 3 weeks following the adoption of a SIPO, cumulative COVID‐19 cases fell by approximately 53.5%. However, this average effect masks important heterogeneity across states‐early adopters and high population density states appear to reap larger benefits from their SIPOs. (JEL H75, I12, I18)

This study investigates effects of welfare reform in the United States on the next generation. Most previous studies of effects of welfare reform on adolescents focused on high-school dropout of girls or fertility; little is known about how welfare reform has affected other teenage behaviors or boys. We use a difference-in-difference-in-differences framework to identify gender-specific effects of welfare reform on skipping school, fighting, damaging property, stealing, hurting others, smoking, alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs. Welfare reform led to increases in delinquent behaviors of boys as well as increases in substance use of boys and girls, with substantially larger effects for boys.

This paper aims to investigate the impacts of exchange rate and income changes on financial and insurance services trade by utilizing the quarterly bilateral trade data of the United States and its major trading partners from 2003 to 2017. No long‐run exchange rate effects on imports and exports of insurance services trade are found. The impact of exchange rates on insurance services may be weak since competition among service providers depends on product differentiation than on exchange rates. On the contrary, income demonstrates significant impacts on both financial and insurance services trade in the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan and Australia. (JELC22, F14, G20)