Left-Digit Bias at Lyft 8 February 2023 John A. List, Ian Muir, Devin Pope, and Gregory SunLeft-digit bias (or 99-cent pricing) has been discussed extensively in economics, psychology, and marketing. Despite this, we show that the rideshare company, Lyft, was not using a 99-cent pricing strategy prior to our study.
The Lost Capital Asset Pricing Model 8 February 2023 Daniel Andrei, Julien Cujean, and Mungo WilsonWe provide a novel explanation for the empirical failure of the CAPM despite its widespread practical use. In a rational-expectations economy in which information is dispersed, variation in expected returns over time and across investors creates an informational gap between investors and the empiricist.
The Effects of Partial Employment Protection Reforms: Evidence from Italy 5 February 2023 Diego Daruich, Sabrina Di Addario, and Raffaele SaggioWe combine matched employer-employee data with firms’ financial records to study a 2001 Italian reform that lifted constraints on the employment of temporary contract workers while maintaining rigid employment protection regulations for employees hired under permanent contracts.
Regional Consumption Responses and the Aggregate Fiscal Multiplier 5 February 2023 Bill Dupor, Marios Karabarbounis, Marianna Kudlyak, and M. Saif MehkariWe use regional variation in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (2009-2012) to analyze the effect of government spending on consumer spending.
Down the River: Glyphosate Use in Agriculture and Birth Outcomes of Surrounding Populations 30 January 2023 Mateus Dias, Rudi Rocha, and Rodrigo R. SoaresThis paper documents an externality from the agricultural use of the most widely applied herbicide in the world—glyphosate—on birth outcomes of surrounding populations.
Central Bank Balance Sheet Policies Without Rational Expectations 30 January 2023 Luigi Iovino and Dmitriy SergeyevWe study the effects of central bank balance sheet policies—namely, quantitative easing and foreign exchange interventions—in a model where people form expectations through an iterative level-k thinking process.
Stalled Racial Progress and Japanese Trade in the 1970s and 1980s 24 January 2023 Mary Kate Batistich and Timothy N. BondWe assess the impact of a rapid rise in Japanese import competition on the growth in racial earnings and employment gaps during the 1970s and 80s.
Hinterlands, city formation and growth: Evidence from the U.S. westward expansion 24 January 2023 Dávid Krisztián NagyI study how geography shaped city formation and aggregate development in the United States prior to the Civil War. To guide my analysis, I present a conjecture that cities’ farm hinterlands fostered both city development and aggregate growth: the hinterland hypothesis.
