“From Family Culture to Welfare State Design”

"Identifying Sorting in Practice" Abstract We propose a novel methodology to detect assortative matching in the labor market using information on workers' mobility, firms' profits, and wages. We estimate the strength of sorting from a ranking of firms alone, built from firm-level profits. We identify the strength of sorting from the fraction of the variance in firm types explained…

"Trust and Cheating in Sri Lanka: The Role of Experimentally-Induced Emotions about Tsunami"

"Should Different People have Different Governments?"

"Education Policies and Migration across European Countries"

"The Effect of Immigration and Immigration Policies on the Underground Economy?"

"Social Interactions in Job Satisfaction"

“Norms, competition and visibility in contemporary science: the legacy of Robert K Merton” (Note: the seminar is on Friday) Abstract Can Robert K. Merton’s seminal work in the sociology of science still offer useful insights to understand key features, trends and challenges of science in contemporary societies? This paper focuses on two main topics. It addresses…

"A Test for Instrument Validity" Abstract This paper develops a specification test for instrument validity in the heterogeneous treatment effect model with a binary treatment and a discrete instrument. The strongest testable implication for instrument validity is given by the condition for non-negativity of point- identifiable complier’s outcome densities. Our specification test infers this testable…

"Dynamic Contracting with Limited Commitment and the Ratchet Effect"

"Inconspicuous conspicuous consumption” (Note: the seminar is on Friday)

"Budget-Constrained Procurement'' Abstract We characterize optimal procurement mechanisms for a financially constrained buyer facing suppliers with privately known costs. Optimal mechanisms can be implemented by simple sequential auctions.

"Optimal mechanisms with risk-loving buyers"

"Social Bias in Online Product Ratings - AQuasi-Experimental Study" (Note: the seminar is on Thursday)

"From Agent-based models to network analysis (and return)"

"Sales and nonlinear prices when consumers have time inconsistent preferences" (Note: the seminar is on Thursday)

"The Crisis in Economic Theory" abstract This presentation will suggest that we need an alternative approach to economic modeling in general, and macroeconomic modelling in particular, if we are to capture salient characteristics of recent economic developments. There has been an implicit acceptance of the idea that an economy in which individuals are left essentially to their own devices will…