scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Institution

National Bureau of Economic Research

NonprofitCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
About: National Bureau of Economic Research is a nonprofit organization based out in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Monetary policy & Population. The organization has 2626 authors who have published 34177 publications receiving 2818124 citations. The organization is also known as: NBER & The National Bureau of Economic Research.


Papers
More filters
Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the connection between income inequality and health in both poor and rich countries and conclude that there is no direct link from income inequality to ill-health; individuals are no more likely to die if they live in more unequal places.
Abstract: I explore the connection between income inequality and health in both poor and rich countries. I discuss a range of mechanisms, including nonlinear income effects, credit restrictions, nutritional traps, public goods provision, and relative deprivation. I review the evidence on the effects of income inequality on the rate of decline of mortality over time, on geographical pattens of mortality, and on individual-level mortality. Much of the literature needs to be treated skeptically, if only because of the low quality of much of the data on income inequality. Although there are many puzzles that remain, I conclude that there is no direct link from income inequality to ill-health; individuals are no more likely to die if they live in more unequal places. The raw correlations that are sometimes found are likely the result of factors other than income inequality, some of which are intimately linked to broader notions of inequality and unfairness. That income inequality itself is not a health risk does not deny the importance for health of other inequalities, nor of the social environment. Whether income redistribution can improve population health does not depend on a direct effect of income inequality and remains an open question.

1,240 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that on average, religious beliefs are associated with "good" economic attitudes, where ''good'' is defined as conducive to higher per capita income and growth, while religious people tend to be more racist and less favorable with respect to working women.

1,238 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper analyzed how changes in government policy affect stock prices and found that stock prices should fall at the announcements of policy changes, on average, if uncertainty about government policy is large, and also if the policy change is preceded by a short or shallow economic downturn.
Abstract: We analyze how changes in government policy affect stock prices. Our general equilibrium model features uncertainty about government policy and a government whose decisions have both economic and non-economic motives. The model makes numerous empirical predictions. Stock prices should fall at the announcements of policy changes, on average. The price fall should be large if uncertainty about government policy is large, and also if the policy change is preceded by a short or shallow economic downturn. Policy changes should increase volatilities and correlations among stocks. The jump risk premium associated with policy decisions should be positive, on average.

1,234 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, ethnic Chinese networks, as proxied by the product of ethnic Chinese population shares, are found to have increased bilateral trade both within Southeast Asia and for other country pairs.
Abstract: Ethnic Chinese networks, as proxied by the product of ethnic Chinese population shares, are found in 1980 and 1990 to have increased bilateral trade both within Southeast Asia and for other country pairs. Their effects within Southeast Asia are much greater for differentiated than for homogeneous products, while for other country pairs their effects are neither economically nor statistically significantly different across commodity groups. We interpret these and other, complementary findings as showing that (1) where ethnic Chinese communities are relatively large fractions of their countries' populations and have relatively numerous direct connections across international borders, they facilitate international trade primarily by helping to match international buyers and sellers in characteristics space, and (2) ethnic Chinese communities that are small fractions of their countries' populations are close-knit and facilitate international trade mainly by enforcing community sanctions that deter opportunistic behavior. The smallest estimated increase in bilateral trade in differentiated products within Southeast Asia attributable to ethnic Chinese networks exceeds 150 percent, suggesting that the informal trade barriers these networks help to overcome are economically important.

1,234 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors empirically examined whether firms engage in dynamic rebalancing of their capital structures, while allowing for costly adjustment, and found that firms respond to changes in their equity value, due to price shocks or equity issuances, by adjusting their leverage over the two to four years following the change.
Abstract: We empirically examine whether firms engage in dynamic rebalancing of their capital structures, while allowing for costly adjustment. We begin by showing that the presence of adjustment costs has significant implications for the dynamic behavior of corporate financial policy and the interpretation of previous empirical results. Then, after confirming that financing behavior is consistent with the presence of adjustment costs, we use a dynamic duration model to show that firms behave as though adhering to a financial policy in which they actively rebalance their leverage to stay within an optimal range. We find that firms respond to changes in their equity value, due to price shocks or equity issuances, by adjusting their leverage over the two to four years following the change. The presence of adjustment costs, however, often prevents this response from occurring immediately, resulting in shocks to leverage that have a persistent effect. Our evidence suggests that this persistence is more likely a result of optimizing behavior in the presence of adjustment costs, as opposed to indifference towards capital structure.

1,234 citations


Authors

Showing all 2855 results

NameH-indexPapersCitations
James J. Heckman175766156816
Andrei Shleifer171514271880
Joseph E. Stiglitz1641142152469
Daron Acemoglu154734110678
Gordon H. Hanson1521434119422
Edward L. Glaeser13755083601
Alberto Alesina13549893388
Martin B. Keller13154165069
Jeffrey D. Sachs13069286589
John Y. Campbell12840098963
Robert J. Barro124519121046
René M. Stulz12447081342
Paul Krugman123347102312
Ross Levine122398108067
Philippe Aghion12250773438
Network Information
Related Institutions (5)
Federal Reserve System
10.3K papers, 511.9K citations

93% related

World Bank
21.5K papers, 1.1M citations

88% related

International Monetary Fund
20.1K papers, 737.5K citations

88% related

Bocconi University
8.9K papers, 344.1K citations

86% related

London School of Economics and Political Science
35K papers, 1.4M citations

86% related

Performance
Metrics
No. of papers from the Institution in previous years
YearPapers
202379
2022253
2021661
2020997
2019767
2018780