Utility, Risk and Demand for Incomplete Insurance: Lab Experiments with Guatemalan Co-Operatives

We play a series of incentivised laboratory games with risk-exposed co-operativised Guatemalan coffee farmers to understand the demand for index-based rainfall insurance. We estimate an explicit utility curve for every…

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How artificial intelligence will affect the future of energy and climate

Artificial intelligence helps make markets more efficient and easier for analysts and market participants to understand highly complex phenomena—from the behavior of electrical power grids to climate change. There is…

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Fiscal Stimulus and Household Debt: Evidence from Thailand’s First-Car Buyer Tax Rebate

This paper examines the extent to which a fiscal stimulus through car loans induces financial distress. Using data to study the impact of Thailand’s first-car-buyer tax rebate scheme at both…

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Political inequality in America: Who loses on spending policy? When is policy less biased?

What are relative contributions of race and class to government responsiveness? Why do these inequalities exist in the first place? And under what contexts are disparities in responsiveness reduced? To…

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Reviving America’s Forgotten Innovation System: Fostering US Growth through Incremental Product and Process Innovation

Everyone in Washington agrees on the need to promote “innovation” to ensure economic prosperity. However, high levels of unemployment have eroded confidence in the ability of our innovation system to…

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Democratic Decline in the United States: What Can We Learn from Middle-Income Backsliding?

Although American political institutions may forestall a reversion to electoral autocracy, we see some striking parallels in terms of democratic dysfunction, polarization, the nature of autocratic appeals, and the processes…

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