Delegation of decision-making has important implications for firms’ performance. We build a simple model predicting that decentralized firms are more involved in R&D, and use data from the Italian manufacturing industry to document a positive correlation between delegation and R&D spending. This result is robust to controlling for the determinants of R&D such as human capital, capital intensity...

Management of portfolios from which funds are withdrawn involves two strategic decisions at the fund level: asset allocation and the spending rule. Asset allocation and the spending rule are traditionally linked, for example, to preserve capital on average, but there should be a closer dynamic linkage between the two. This article describes a new protective strategy that links spending and asse...

Recent economic downturns have led many countries to reduce health spending dramatically, with the World Health Organization raising concerns over the effects of this, in particular among the poor and vulnerable. With the provision of appropriate health care, the population of a country could have better health, thus strengthening the nation's human capital, which could contribute to economic g...

1 The electoral consequences of the change in federal grant spending per capita. These six models replicate the results from Tables 1-4 in the manuscript using the change in per capita grant spending in a county as the independent variable of interest, instead of the percentage change in grant spending in the county. The results are substantively identical to those presented in the manuscript. ...

Issue: President-elect Trump and some in Congress have called for establishing absolute limits on the federal government’s spending on Medicaid, not only for the population covered through the Affordable Care Act’s eligibility expansion but for the program overall. Such a change would effectively reverse a 50-year trend of expanding Medicaid in order to protect the most vulnerable Americans. Go...

Economic and rent-seeking outcomes are determined jointly in a dynamic general equilibrium model of corruption, public spending and growth. In an economy with government intervention and capital accumulation, state-appointed bureaucrats are responsible for providing public goods, which contribute to productive efficiency. Corruption arises because of an opportunity for bureaucrats to appropriat...