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Nonlinear Estimation of the CES Production Parameters: A Monte Carlo Study
On the Usefulness of Used Machines
Contracts and Firms' Inflation Expectations
We use novel survey data to study firms’ inventory contracts. We document facts about the usage of purchase and sale contracts. We find that firms purchase and sell inventory through three contractual arrangements: fixed price and quantity, fixed price only, and fixed quantity only. Those using fixed price and quantity hold the largest share of contracts. The average duration of purchase contracts is not very different from the average duration of sale contracts. We then find that the upward bias in inflation expectations is a feature of firms that do not purchase or sell largely through contracts. Our findings are useful in the calibration of sticky price models.
Do Older Investors Make Better Investment Decisions?
This paper examines the investment decisions of older individual investors. We find that older and experienced investors are more likely to follow rules of thumb that reflect greater investment knowledge. However, older investors are less effective in applying their investment knowledge and exhibit worse investment skill, especially if they are less educated, earn lower income, and belong to minority racial/ethnic groups. Overall, the adverse effects of aging dominate the positive effects of experience. These results indicate that older investors' portfolio decisions reflect greater knowledge about investing, but investment skill deteriorates with age due to the adverse effects of cognitive aging.
Improving Child Health and Cognition: Evidence from a School-Based Nutrition Intervention in India
We present experimental evidence on the impact of the use of double-fortified salt in school meals on anemia, cognition, and the learning outcomes of primary school children in rural Bihar, one of the poorest regions of India. We find that a year-long intervention had statistically significant positive impacts on hemoglobin levels and reduced anemia by 20%; however, these health gains did not translate into significant impacts on cognitive performance, test scores, and school attendance. Treatment effects on anemia and test scores were larger for children with higher school attendance. The findings indicate that school-based health interventions are a cost-effective and scalable approach for reducing anemia among school children in resource-constrained countries.