A Macroanalysis of Fertility in Russia: The Role of Non-Economic Considerations

The current paper uses the data available from 9 rounds (1994–2004) of The Russian Longitudinal Monitoring Survey to analyze the distinction between wants and needs in child bearing decisions. We find that subjective factors such as welfare perception and confidence about the future, moral values and marital happiness influence decisions about childbearing or pregnancy interruptions, even with economic factors controlled for. We also study the reverse causality: how childbearing affects mother's life perception and whether children bring about happiness in the end.childbearing; economic factors

Information Aggregation through Stock Prices and the Cost of Capital

This paper studies a firm's optimal capital structure in an environment where the firm's stock price serves as a public signal for its default risk. In equilibrium, the number of traders who find it profitable to trade the firm's stock increases as the firm issues more equity. In turn, the precision with which the stock price communicates the firm's fundamental to bond investors increases in the number of equity investors. Thus, through its capital structure, firms can internalize the informational externality that stock prices exert on bond yields. Strong firms therefore issue equity to reduce borrowing costs

Selling \u27Money\u27 on EBay: a Field Study of Surplus Division

We study the division of trade surplus in a natural field experiment on German eBay. Acting as a seller, we offer Amazon gift cards with face values of up to 500 Euro. A random selection of buyers, the subjects of our experiment, make price offers according to the rules of eBay. Using a novel decomposition method, we infer the offered shares of trade surplus from the data and find that the average share proposed to the seller amounts to about $30 \%$. Additionally, we document: (i) insignificant effects of stake size; (ii) poor use of strategically relevant public information; and (iii) differences between East and West German subjects

The theory of straight ticket voting

This paper explores the effects of the straight-ticket voting option (STVO) on the positions of politicians. STVO, present in some US states, allows voters to select one party for all partisan elections listed on the ballot, as opposed to filling out each office individually. We analyse the effects of STVO on policy-making by building a model of pre-election competition. STVO results in greater party loyalty of candidates, while increasing the weight of non-partisan voters’ positions in candidate selection. This induces an asymmetric effect on vote shares and implemented policies in the two-party system

Развитие отдела редких книг Тамбовской областной универсальной научной библиотеки им. А.С. Пушкина

The history of the formation of the Department of Rare Books at the Tambov Regional Universal Scientific Library named after A.S. Pushkin is described. The detailed description of the stages of formation of the Collection of the Department, the methodology of its study, the attribution of single copies, and the principles of separation of book collections is provided. It is revealed the quantitative and thematic composition of the owners’ collections, formed in the Department, presented the examples of valuable books, including the books of “Peter the Great” period, the firsts of the Tambov printing, and traced the history of bibliophily in the Tambov region. Information about the founder and the first Head of the Department of rare books A.I. Sapogov, who devoted his career to identification, study, and description of rare and valuable books, is provided, and his method of formation of the collection of G.R. Derzhavin is described. It is reported on the current work of the Department of rare books, on the Acquisition profile, composition and structure of the Collection, and on the preservation measures. There are summarized the activities of the Regional Centre for the work with book monuments of the Tambov region as the methodical centre for the institutions - holders of the literary monuments. Scientific research work, project and educational activities of the Department of rare books are demonstrated. There is described the work on creating printed catalogues of the rare books, separate book collections, union catalogues of book monuments, and electronic catalogue of rare editions.Описывается история становления отдела редких книг Тамбовской областной универсальной научной библиотеки им. А.С. Пушкина. Подробно рассказывается об этапах формирования фонда отдела, методике его изучения, атрибуции единичных экземпляров, принципах выделения книжных коллекций. Раскрывается количественный и тематический состав владельческих коллекций, сформированных в отделе, приводятся примеры особо ценных изданий, в том числе книг «петровского» периода, первенцев тамбовской печати, а также прослеживается история библиофильства в Тамбовском крае. Приводятся сведения об основателе и первом заведующем отдела редких книг А.И. Сапогове, посвятившем свою профессиональную деятельность выявлению, изучению и описанию книжных редкостей, изложена его методика формирования коллекции Г.Р. Державина. Рассказывается о работе отдела редких книг в настоящее время, о профиле комплектования, составе и структуре фонда, мероприятиях по его сохранности. Кратко освещается деятельность Регионального центра по работе с книжными памятниками Тамбовской области как методического центра для учреждений-фондодержателей книжных памятников. Демонстрируется научно-исследовательская, проектная и просветительская деятельность отдела редких книг. Описывается работа по созданию печатных каталогов редких книг, отдельных книжных коллекций, сводных каталогов книжных памятников, электронного каталога редких изданий

One strike and you're out! The Master Lever's effect on senatorial policy-making

We investigate the impact a straight-ticket voting option—a.k.a. the Master Lever—has on U.S. senators’ roll-call voting records in Congress. Using difference-in-differences, we find the Master Lever leads to a 3–6 percent rightward shift in senators’ policy positions. The effect is largely driven by the Republican party. To interpret our results, we analyse the Master Lever’s impact on electoral incentives and outcomes. Our findings suggest that ballot design has a non-negligible impact on policy-making. They also imply that electoral outcomes in moderate to right-leaning Master Lever states may be especially vulnerable to right-wing, non-partisan voters

Selling Money on Ebay: A Field Study of Surplus Division

We study the division of trade surplus in a competitive market environment by conducting a natural field experiment on German eBay. Acting as a seller, we offer Amazon gift cards with face values of up to 500 Euro. Randomly arriving buyers, the subjects of our experiment, make price offers according to eBay rules. Using a novel decomposition method, we infer offered shares of trade surplus and find that the average share proposed to the seller amounts to 29%. Additionally, we document: (i) insignificant effects of stake size; (ii) poor use of strategically relevant public information; and (iii) behavioural differences between East and West German subjects