Energy, the Environment, and Innovation

In this paper we review the theoretical and empirical literatureon the role of policies in stimulating innovation that is designedto produce greener and more energy-efficient technologies. Firstwe review the theoretical literature on the role of purely environmentalpolicies in inducing firms to undertake environmental innovation.The conclusion is that for a wide range of policies and in awide range of circumstances one cannot prove that these policiesnecessarily induce greater innovation. We then consider theempirical evidence, which suggests that the effect of thesepolicies is weak but that the largest effects come in the longrun when, through learning-by-doing, firms better understandthe scope and potential for new energy-efficient technologies.Finally we consider the design of both environmental and technologypolicies, and show that the interaction of these policies iscomplex and warrants considerable further research.     

The flight to the suburbs of population and employment, 1960-1970

An econometric model of suburbanization in the United States is developed. The model is used to analyze changes in location of the population, classified by income and race, and of employment in 106 large SMSAs over the period 1960-1970. The results confirm that the differential mobility of upper-income and white residents has been a powerful force concentrating low-income and nonwhite residents in central cities. The interaction of population and employment location is confirmed.     

Developing a Reputation for Reticence

A sender who has disclosable information with probability less than one may partially conceal bad news by choosing to withhold information and pooling with uninformed types. The success of this strategy depends on receivers' beliefs about the probability that the sender has disclosable news. In a dynamic context, informed senders try to cultivate a reputation for reticence either by concealing good news along with the bad, or by concealing some good news and disclosing some bad news. A reputation for reticence is valuable because it makes receivers less skeptical of past or future nondisclosures. The model provides insight into the choice by firms such as Google not to disclose quarterly earnings guidance to analysts, as well as Tony Blair's reticence over his son's vaccine record during the measles–mumps–rubella scare in the United Kingdom.     

Does Going Greek Impair Undergraduate Academic Performance?

A bstract .   Controlling for SAT scores, college major, gender, and state of residence, university students were more likely to have joined a fraternity or sorority if they had come from in state and had higher verbal SAT scores, but lower math SAT scores, the opposite of what simple uncontrolled averages indicate. Controlling for the same variables, fraternity and sorority members suffered from 1 to 10 percent lower cumulative GPAs than non-Greek students. This negative effect was most pronounced for small fraternities and weakest for sororities.     

The circulating medium of exchange in colonial Pennsylvania, 1729–1775: new estimates of monetary composition, performance, and economic growth

Market transaction data are used to estimate the quantity of specie in circulation. This estimate is used to provide the first comprehensive measure of a colony's money supply and, along with data on population and prices, to retest the quantity theory of money and measure output growth using the equation of exchange. Output growth is found to depend on periodization and the extent that rising commercialization increased the velocity of circulation. Specie was becoming relatively less scarce as the Revolution approached, and movements in specie and paper currency both offset and reinforced each other depending on the period of analysis. (JEL N11, N21, E42, E51)