Showing results 1 - 10 of 18
| Alberto Alesina
July 2020, Paper: "The Online Appendix provides additional evidence and sensitivity checks. Section A shows the distribution of schooling by country-birth-decade. Section B details the sample construction process. In Section C we report validation checks of the IPUMS data on education with alternative cross-country and regional statistics. We also explore the relationship between educational attainment and various proxies of well-being across…
| Alberto Alesina
January 2020, Paper, "This paper provides a simple conceptual framework that captures how different perceptions, attitudes, and biases about immigrants or minorities can shape preferences for redistribution. Through the lens of this framework, we review the empirical literature on the effects of racial diversity and immigration on support for redistribution in the US and Europe."
Non-HKS Author Website -…
| Alberto Alesina
Effects of Austerity: Expenditure- and Tax-based Approaches. Alberto Alesina, Spring 2019, Paper, "Sometimes governments need to reduce their budget deficits aggressively. These policies are labeled “austerity.” Almost always austerity is needed because excessive debt has been accumulated, as a result of policy mistakes and political distortions (Alesina and Passalacqua 2016; Yared, in this issue). The austerity policies embraced by several…
| Alberto Alesina
Climbing out of Debt. Alberto Alesina, March 2018, Paper, "Almost a decade after the onset of the global financial crisis, national debt in advanced economies remains near its highest level since World War II, averaging 104 percent of GDP. In Japan, the ratio is 240 percent and in Greece almost 185 percent. In Italy and Portugal, debt exceeds 120 percent of GDP." …
| Alberto Alesina
Is it the "How" or the "When" that Matters in Fiscal Adjustments? Alberto Alesina, October 2016, Paper, "Using data from 16 OECD countries from 1981 to 2014, we find that the composition of fiscal adjustments is much more important than the state of the cycle in determining their effects on output. Fiscal adjustments based upon spending cuts are much less costly than those based upon tax increases, regardless of whether the adjustment starts in…
| Alberto Alesina
Birthplace Diversity and Economic Prosperity. Alberto Alesina, February 2015, Paper. "We propose an index of population diversity based on people’s birthplaces and decompose it into a size (share of foreign-born) and a variety (diversity of immigrants) component. We show that birthplace diversity is largely uncorrelated with ethnic, linguistic or genetic diversity and that the diversity of immigration relates positively to measures of economic…
| Alberto Alesina
Culture and Institutions. Alberto Alesina, September 1, 2014, Paper. "A growing body of empirical work measuring different types of cultural traits has shown that culture matters for a variety of economic outcomes. This paper focuses on one specific aspect of the relevance of culture: its relationship to institutions. We review work with a theoretical, empirical, and historical bent to assess the presence of a two-way causal effect between…
| Alberto Alesina
The output effect of fiscal consolidation plans. Alberto Alesina, May 2014, Paper. "We show that the correct experiment to evaluate the effects of a scale adjustment is the simulation of a multi-year fiscal plan rather than of individual scale shocks. Simulation of scale plans adopted by 16 OECD countries over a 30-year period supports the hypothesis that the effects of consolidations depend on their design. Fiscal adjustments based upon…
| Alberto Alesina
Immigration, diversity, and economic prosperity. Alberto Alesina, August 22, 2013, Paper. "With aging populations in the rich nations and booming labour forces in poor nations, immigration is sure to be a critical policy issue for decades. This column presents research that casts new light on the issue, showing that diversity of immigrants’ origin matters along with their numbers and skill levels. Europeans need to start thinking about…
| Alberto Alesina
Family Ties. Alberto Alesina, March 2013, Article. "We study the role of the most primitive institution in society: the family. Its organization and relationship between generations shape values formation, economic outcomes and influences national institutions. We use the World Values Survey to measure the strength of family ties and economic attitudes, controlling for country fixed effects. We study several economic attitudes toward working…