The Visible Hand

The paper discussed in this episode is “Civil Service Exams and Organizational Performance: Evidence from the Pendleton Act”, by Diana Moreira and Santiago Perez. Other papers discussed during this episode include:

Prendergast, C. (2007). The motivation and bias of bureaucrats. American Economic Review, 97(1), 180-196.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Killer Incentives: Rivalry, Performance and Risk-Taking among German Fighter Pilots, 1939–45”, by Philipp Ager, Leonardo Bursztyn, Lukas Leucht, and Hans-Joachim Voth. This paper was published in the Review of Economic Studies in October 2022.

Other papers discussed during this episode include:

Cullen, Z., & Perez-Truglia, R. (2022). How much does your boss make? the effects of salary comparisons. Journal of Political Economy, 130(3), 766-822.

Kuhn, P., Kooreman, P., Soetevent, A., & Kapteyn, A. (2011). The effects of lottery prizes on winners and their neighbors: Evidence from the Dutch postcode lottery. American Economic Review, 101(5), 2226-47.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Sexual Harassment and Gender Inequality in the Labor Market” by Olle Folke and Johanna Rickne, and which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2022.

Other papers discussed during this episode include:

Goldin, Claudia. “A Grand Gender Convergence: Its Last Chapter”, American Economic Review, 104 (2014a), 1091–1119.

Mas, Alexandre, and Amanda Pallais, “Valuing Alternative Work Arrangements,” American Economic Review, 107 (2017), 3722—59.

Goldin, C., & Katz, L. F. (2016). A most egalitarian profession: pharmacy and the evolution of a family-friendly occupation. Journal of Labor Economics, 34(3), 705-746.

The paper discussed in this episode is “The Quality and Efficiency of Public and Private Firms: Evidence from Ambulance Services”, by Daniel Knutsson and Björn Tyrefors, and which was published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2022.

Other papers discussed during this episode include:

Hart, O., Shleifer, A., & Vishny, R. W. (1997). The proper scope of government: theory and an application to prisons. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112(4), 1127-1161.

Lucchese, E. (2020). It could be worse... it could be raining: Ambulance response time and health outcomes. University of Milan Bicocca Department of Economics, Management and Statistics Working Paper, (429).

Silver, D. (2021). Haste or Waste? Peer pressure and productivity in the emergency department. The Review of Economic Studies, 88(3), 1385-1417.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Managers and Productivity in the Public Sector”, by Alessandra Fenizia, and which was published in Econometrica in 2022.

Other papers discussed during this episode include:

Bertrand, M., & Schoar, A. (2003). Managing with style: The effect of managers on firm policies. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 118(4), 1169-1208.'

Bandiera, O., Barankay, I., & Rasul, I. (2007). Incentives for managers and inequality among workers: Evidence from a firm-level experiment. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(2), 729-773.

Janke, K., Propper, C., & Sadun, R. (2019). The impact of CEOs in the Public Sector: Evidence from the English NHS (No. w25853). National Bureau of Economic Research.

Lazear, E. P., Shaw, K. L., & Stanton, C. T. (2015). The value of bosses. Journal of Labor Economics, 33(4), 823-861.

Silver, D. (2021). Haste or Waste? Peer pressure and productivity in the emergency department. The Review of Economic Studies, 88(3), 1385-1417.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Talent Hoarding in Organizations”, by Ingrid Haegele.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Reporting Peers’ Wrongdoing: Experimental Evidence on the Effect of Financial Incentives on Morally Controversial Behavior”, by Stefano Fiorin.

Other papers mentioned in this episode are:

Ariely, Dan, Anat Bracha, and Stephan Meier. 2009. “Doing Good or Doing Well? Image Motivation and Monetary Incentives in Behaving Prosocially.” American Economic Review, 99(1): 544–55.

Burde, Dana, and Leigh L. Linden. 2013. "Bringing Education to Afghan Girls: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Village-Based Schools." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, 5 (3): 27-40.

The paper discussed in this episode is “The Allocation of Authority in Organizations: A Field Experiment with Bureaucrats”, by Oriana Bandiera, Michael Carlos Best, Adnan Qadir Khan, and Andrea Prat, and which was published at the Quarterly Journal of Economics in 2021.

Other papers mentioned in this episode are:

Bandiera, O., Prat, A., & Valletti, T. (2009). Active and passive waste in government spending: evidence from a policy experiment. American Economic Review, 99(4), 1278-1308.

Liebman, J. B., & Mahoney, N. (2017). Do expiring budgets lead to wasteful year-end spending? Evidence from federal procurement. American Economic Review, 107(11), 3510-49.

NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE. 2006. Assessing the value for money of OGC buying solutions. https://www.nao.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2006/12/0607103.pdf

The paper discussed in this episode is “On Target? Sanctions and the Economic Interests of Elite Policymakers in Iran”, by Mirko Draca, Jason Garred, Leanne Stickland, and Nele Warrinnier, and which is forthcoming at The Economic Journal.

Other papers mentioned in this episode are:

Snowberg, E., Wolfers, J., & Zitzewitz, E. (2007). Partisan impacts on the economy: evidence from prediction markets and close elections. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 122(2), 807-829.

The paper discussed in this episode is “Team-Specific Human Capital and Team Performance: Evidence from Doctors”, by Yiqun Chen.