Journal of Public Economics

The authors show that sanctions imposed by Ukraine on Donbas in 2014 were undone by entrepot trade through Russia, while Ukraine was forced to import coal from Russia to keep its factories running, highlighting the challenges to embargoes created by market power and non-participants.

Author shows that in a model in which workers differ in skill and preferences for status, high-skill workers with strong status concerns match with status-indifferent low-skill workers. If these are rare, they can earn above average wages & benefit from skill-biased tech change.

The authors ran a large-scale field experiment on unclaimed property. Simple mailed letters boosted claims by 4.2 pts—a 400% increase. Hispanic owners claimed less & responded less than White owners. The effects lasted a year, showing new (not just faster) claims.

Authors find that China’s anti-corruption drive reshaped land sales: officials, fearing scrutiny, sold less to private developers and more to State-Owned-Enterprises (SOEs). The campaign—meant to curb corruption—may have unintentionally fueled a resurgence of SOEs.

How does risk aversion change Weitzman’s (1974) price vs quantity result? Schlee shows that welfare (via certainty equivalents) can be higher under fixed prices—even with arbitrarily high risk aversion. The key: benefit uncertainty, not in Weitzman.

Private firms account for nearly half of US sales & profits, yet hard to value. Using transaction data, the authors estimate private business wealth at $14.1T in 2018—2× official stats. Partnership wealth alone is ~6× larger than reported.

Using social media data, the authors found that anti-Chinese discrimination in the U.S. spiked after COVID-19 and Trump’s “Chinese virus” tweet. In response, Chinese Americans asserted their Americanness more and distanced themselves from the CCP.

In a driving experiment, the authors show that Black participants predicted a higher chance of receiving a speeding ticket than White participants. Black participants always drove the same speed but White participants drove slower when there was a racially representative police department.

Authors show that extortion reduces entrepreneurial entry and increases both exit and economic concentration. Causal evidence from a franchise in Guatemala shows that security devices like cameras help firms survive by reducing extortion risk and safety concerns, ultimately increasing competition.

Authors show that charity auctions face a revenue vs. risk trade-off. Lab & field tests show a “revenue frontier” across formats: all-pay auctions raise average revenue but also risk. A new framework helps nonprofits choose fundraising methods based on risk tolerance.

🇺🇸 Why are U.S. politicians so old? The authors suggest an important factor: campaign money. The median federal donor is 66 years old, and donors give more to candidates near their age. Simulations show campaign finance rules could shift the age balance in politics.

In India, the authors found that VAT exemptions for small firms don’t shield consumers: prices still rise depending on how easily registered & unregistered goods substitute, supply chain links, and market segregation. Even buyers at exempt firms end up bearing part of the tax.

The authors study how temperature changes affect U.S. migration. While individual hot or cold years have little impact, counties with longer-term warming trends see fewer in-migrants and more out-migrants. The authors point to amenity values as a potentially important factor.

🇸🇪 Sweden’s wealth tax history shows admin details matter: Saez & Seim found that when only those with wealth above the exemption threshold had to file (1994), many disappeared from the rolls. When pre-populated returns arrived (1997), they reappeared. Filing rules can make or break compliance.

The authors tested a new way to manage scarce resources: Vote-and-Trade (VAT). Unlike cap-and-trade, which often sparks a "race to extract," VAT—where groups vote on when to extract before trading—boosted efficiency in lab experiments.

Decades after Brown v. Board, segregation still shapes U.S. schools. The author found that Massachusetts’ METCO busing program finds: bringing diverse peers into suburban classrooms has no negative effect on test scores, attendance, suspensions, or college outcomes—challenging opponents’ fears.

The authors investigate Sweden’s carbon tax and VAT reform, finding it significantly increased low-carbon patents in the transport sector. The results indicate that carbon pricing – not general fuel price changes – primarily drives the innovation response.

Public procurement contracts often require renegotiation, but rules are typically rigid. The authors found that easing these rules leads to more aggressive bidding, lowering winning bids by 3%. Final prices after renegotiation and delivered quality remain unchanged.

The authors find that in India (1998–2022), electing a woman politician over a man causally reduces crop fires & pollution by 13%. Why? Women leaders see fires as a child health issue & push residue management policies. Representation matters—for the environment too.

Authors track econ PhDs from the 2008–10 job market and find that gender gaps in academic outcomes mirror gaps in career expectations. Expectations predict outcomes—and explain up to 22% of the gender gap in tenure.

Authors find that extending dependent insurance eligibility under the Affordable Care Act doesn’t just help kids—it also keeps parents tied to jobs. Extra coverage → higher dependent take-up and stronger parental job retention. Classic case of “job lock.”

Authors find that graduation rates from grad school are similar to undergrad graduation rates and have been rising in recent years. Graduation rates for grad school vary across different fields of study and across institutions. Many graduate students who do not graduate accumulate substantial debt.

Author finds that police body cameras reduce police-involved homicides, with effects concentrated in high-incident areas and agencies with stricter activation policies. No effect in low-incident regions or where policies are weaker. Crime rates remain steady, suggesting no major trade-offs.

Author finds that when redistricting assigns individuals to more electorally lopsided districts, they increase their out-of-district giving to competitive races – and reduce their within-district giving – suggesting giving out of district is an attempt to recover meaningful political voice.

Authors find that hospices churn patients by increasing live discharges and enrolling new patients in response to financial incentives in Medicare. They appear to move down the demand curve to enroll new patients, because marginal enrollees seem healthier and less attached to hospice care.