How important is access to patent documents for subsequent innovation? We examine the expansion of USPTO Patent Library system after 1975. libraries provided patents before Internet. find that library opening, local patenting increases by 8–20 percent relative similar regions. Additional analyses suggest disclosure technical information drives this effect: inventors increasingly take up ideas f...

We present a new estimator for causal effects with panel data that builds on insights behind the widely used difference-in-differences and synthetic control methods. Relative to these methods we find, both theoretically empirically, this “synthetic difference-in-differences” has desirable robustness properties, it performs well in settings where conventional estimators are commonly practice. st...

We use a panel of 155 countries for 1970-2010 to study (two-way) causality between government spending, revenue and growth. Our results suggest the existence of weak evidence supporting causality from expenditures or revenues to GDP per capita and provide evidence supporting Wagner’s Law. JEL: C23, E62, H50.

This paper derives consistent standard errors for a panel Tobit model in the presence of correlated errors. The problem is framed in the context of Newey and West (1987), considering the Tobit model as a special case of a GMM estimator. JEL codes: C23, C24

In this paper, by employing the Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) techniques and Chinese provincial level data from 1991 to 2003, we empirically investigate the relationship between finance and growth in post-reform China. We find that financial development significantly promotes economic growth in coastal regions but not in inland regions; the weak finance-growth nexus in inland provinces has...

Do political elites use armed groups to foster civilian participation in genocidal violence? Are employed strategically? How do they mobilize civilians? I investigate these questions using data from the Rwandan Genocide. To establish causality, exploit exogenous variation groups’ transport costs induced by weather fluctuations: shortest distance of each village main road interacted with rainfal...

Firms sometimes comply with externality-correcting policies by gaming the measure that determines policy. This harms buyers eroding information, but it benefits them when cost savings are passed through into prices. We develop a model highlights this tension and use to analyze of automobile carbon emission ratings in EU. document startling increases using novel data. then effects calibrated sim...

We estimate the political economy determinants of budget deficit forecast errors. Since the adoption of the Stability Pact, Eurozone governments have manipulated forecasts before elections. The political orientation and the institutional design of governments also affects the quality of forecasts. JEL classifications: H62, H87, C23, C53, E62

This study analyzes the existence of a complementary relationship between public and private spending on Research and Development activities. The results show that public funding does not produce a substitution effect on private spending. In fact, depending on the methodology used, public subsidies actually produce a crowding in effect of up to 49% on private spending. JEL: C23; L11;