John Taylor has a new paper out, entitled An Empirical Analysis of the Revival of Fiscal Activism in the 2000s. Abstract: Macroeconomic data indicate that the three American discretionary countercyclical stimulus packages of the 2000s had little if any direct impact on consumption or government purchases, and thus did not stimulate the economy as Keynesian…
In The Papers: Wildcat Banking
The era of "wildcat banking" is one of the first problems that a free banking advocate must deal with: how can you support an unregulated (entirely!) banking system, given the mass failure of unregulated wildcat banks during the 1830s? Gerald Dwyer, in Wildcat Banking, Banking Panics, and Free Banking in the United States, investigated the…
In The Papers: Migration Habits
Assaf Razin and Jackline Wahba look at immigration to EU countries in their paper entitled Free vs. Controlled Migration: Bilateral Country Study. Abstract: This paper tests the differential effects of the generosity of the welfare state under free migration and under policy-controlled migration, distinguishing between source developing and developed countries. We utilize free-movement within the…
In The Papers: Cash Out Or Flame Out
Ashish Arora and Anand Nandkumar have an interesting paper entitled Cash-out or flame-out! Opportunity cost and entrepreneurial strategy: Theory, and evidence from the information security industry. The title is way too long, but the paper itself has some good details. Abstract: We analyze how entrepreneurial opportunity cost conditions performance. We depart from the literature on…
In The Papers: The Limits of Market Efficiency
James Buchanan continues to astound me. At the young age of 90, he has published yet another paper, this one entitled The Limits of Market Efficiency. Abstract: The framework rules within which either market or political activity takes place must be classified in the non-partitionability set under the Samuelson taxonomy. Therefore there is nothing comparable…
In The Papers: Modern-Day Whiggism
You would think that, as a self-described Old Whig, I would find disagreement with Pete Boettke, Pete Leeson, and Chris Coyne's group paper entitled Contra-Whig History of Economic Ideas and the Problem of the Endogeneous Past, but then again, how could I go wrong with that gang? Abstract: This paper provides a critical challenge to…
In The Papers: Why Did Japan Adopt The Gold Standard?
Kris James Mitchener, Masato Shizume, and Marc D. Weidenmier have a paper out entitled, Why did Countries Adopt the Gold Standard? Lessons from Japan. Abstract: Why did policymakers adopt the gold standard? Although previous research has identified ex post effects of gold standard adoption on trade and bond yields, few studies have sought to understand…
In The Papers: Coercion, Taxation, and Voluntary Association
Roger Congleton has a recent working paper out on the topics of Coercion, Taxation, and Voluntary Association. Abstract: Voluntary and coercive relationships among person play important roles in ethics, political theory, and Western law. This essay attempts to clarify the meaning and limits of coercion using matrix representations of voluntary and coercive proposals. Two settings…
In The Papers: The Unofficial Economy In Africa
Rafael La Porta and Andrei Schleifer have an interesting analysis of informal versus formal firms in a paper entitled The Unofficial Economy in Africa. Abstract: We examine the productivity of informal firms (those that are not registered with the government) in 24 African countries using field work and World Bank firm level data. We find…
In The Papers: Financial Development and City Growth
Howard Bodenhorn and David Cuberes look at the northeastern US (well, New England, some of the mid-Atlantic, and Ohio) between 1790 and 1870 to see if financial development---particularly banks---influence city growth. Their paper is entitled Financial Development and City Growth: Evidence from Northeastern American Cities, 1790-1870. Abstract: Using cross sectional and panel techniques, we find…
36 Chambers - The Legendary Journeys: Execution to the max! 