Journal Article The Harvard Department of Economics from the Beginning to World War II Get access Edward S. Mason Edward S. Mason Thomas S. Lamont University Professor, Emeritus Harvard University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 97, Issue 3, August 1982, Pages 383–433, https://doi.org/10.2307/1885870 Published: 01 August 1982

I. Introduction, 419. — II. Elasticity of supply of savings, 420. — III. Analysis under uncertainty, 427. — IV. Implications, 434.

Journal Article Economies of Scale: Some Statistical Evidence: Comment Get access S. C. Schuman, S. C. Schuman New York, New York Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar S. B. Alpert S. B. Alpert New York, New York Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 74, Issue 3, August 1960, Pages 493–497, https://doi.org/10.2307/1883063 Published: 01 August 1960

Introduction, 279. — I. Determinants of water value in the basin, 280; how to allocate water between power and irrigation, 280; taking account of delivery losses along a canal, 284; effects of water rights, 288. — II. Allocation between major water uses, 289; competition among eight water uses, 289; below Lake McConaughy, 290; above Lake McConaughy, 291; between the two areas, 291. — III. Conclusion, 292; findings for the North Platte River, 292; further applications, 293. — Appendix on canal losses, 294.

This paper presents evidence on the long-run trends in U. S. regional specialization and localization and examines which model of regional specialization is most consistent with the data. Regional specialization in the United States rose substantially between 1860 and the turn of the twentieth century, flattened out during the interwar years, and then fell substantially and continuously since the 1930s. The analysis of the long-run trends in U. S. regional specialization and localization supports explanations based on production scale economies and the Heckscher-Ohlin model but is inconsistent with explanations based on external economies.

J. S. S. Edwards, M. J. Keen; Wealth Maximization and the Cost of Capital: A Comment*, The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Volume 99, Issue 1, 1 February 1

Abstract I replicate and extend the seminal work of Camerer et al. (“Labor Supply of New York City Cabdrivers: One Day at a Time,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112 [1997], 407–441), who find that the wage elasticity of daily hours of work for New York City taxi drivers is negative and conclude that their labor supply behavior is consistent with reference dependence. In contrast, my analysis of the complete record of all trips taken in NYC taxi cabs from 2009 to 2013 shows that drivers tend to respond positively to unanticipated as well as anticipated increases in earnings opportunities. Additionally, using a discrete choice stopping model, the probability of a shift ending is strongly positively related to hours worked but at best weakly related to income earned. I find substantial heterogeneity across drivers in their elasticities, but the estimated elasticities are generally positive and rarely substantially negative. I find that new drivers with smaller elasticities are more likely to exit the industry, whereas drivers who remain quickly learn to be better optimizers (have positive labor supply elasticities that grow with experience). These results are consistent with the neoclassical optimizing model of labor supply and suggest that consideration of gain-loss utility and income reference dependence is not an important factor in the daily labor supply decisions of taxi drivers.

This article examines how a decision maker who is only partially aware of his temptations learns about them over time. In facing temptations, individuals use their experience to forecast future self-control problems and choose the appropriate level of commitment. I demonstrate that rational learning can be perpetually partial and need not result in full sophistication. The main result of this article characterizes necessary and sufficient conditions for learning to converge to full sophistication. I apply this result to a consumption-savings environment in which a decision maker is tempted by present bias and establish a learning-theoretic justification for assuming sophistication in this setting. "An individual who finds himself continuously repudiating his past plans may learn to distrust his future behavior, and may do something about it." -- Copyright 2011, Oxford University Press.

Simultaneity between prisoner populations and crime rates makes it difficult to isolate the causal effect of changes in prison populations on crime. To break that simultaneity, this paper uses prison overcrowding litigation in a state as an instrument for changes in the prison population. The resulting elasticities are two to three times greater than those of previous studies. A one-prisoner reduction is associated with an increase of fifteen Index I crimes per year. While calculations of the costs of crime are inherently uncertain, it appears that the social benefits associated with crime reduction equal or exceed the social costs of incarceration for the marginal prisoner.

We present a qualitative and quantitative analysis of the standard growth model modified to include precautionary saving motives and liquidity constraints. We address the impact on the aggregate saving rate, the importance of asset trading to individuals, and the relative inequality of wealth and income distributions.