Criminal organizations hinder development. In El Salvador, US deportations seeded gangs whose territorial borders trap residents. Those inside have lower income, education, and well-being than neighbors just 50m away, mainly due to restricted mobility. buff.ly/s9xz4fh

Economic outcomes often depend on the distribution of some maximum value (eg highest valuation, best idea, lowest cost). If the average number of options is large, how do such outcomes change when some agents have more options than others? @sephorahmangin.bsky.social buff.ly/I0CFaj4

Econometrica Volume 93, Issue 5 (September 2025) is now online www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Governments use their countries’ economic strength from financial and trade relationships to achieve geopolitical and economic goals. We provide a framework of the sources and uses of geoeconomic power. Mixing macro theory and international relations. buff.ly/eyQ2yBx

From Côte d’Ivoire to the U.S., social obligations to share income are common. Eliana Carranza, Aletheia Donald, Florian Grosset-Touba and Supreet Kaur show their welfare benefits may come at a cost: lower labor supply and productivity. buff.ly/28YCYeT

How to quantify consumer surplus in love of variety/quality ladder models? Supplier addition/separation helps identify key statistic without functional form assumptions. Crucial input for policy questions & comparative statics in growth & trade models. buff.ly/ZzOHH5B

U.S. municipal bonds remain illiquid; this article links this illiquidity to underwriter-driven complexity and quantifies the welfare gains from mandating standardization. buff.ly/KfH7vsT

We show a long-run player who repeatedly observes private signals and takes actions can sometimes establish a reputation even when their strategy is not identified. Our result applies to games of deterrence, delegation, signaling, and Bayesian persuasion. buff.ly/NcrNE6L

Could a highly desirable agent accept a partner that a less desirable agent would reject? When matching requires search in time-changing environments, this paper proves this impossible only where more desirable agents are more patient and less risk-averse. buff.ly/S5uwd3j

Can transparent admissions rules increase access to college? This paper shows two thirds of Texas’ Top Ten Percent Plan’s impact came from information, not mechanical effects, admitting low-income students who outperform those they displace. @adamkapor.bsky.social buff.ly/EGdXrpO

We introduce a novel experimental design and econometric model to estimate risk aversion, prudence, and temperance without imposing their interdependence. Our approach unmasks variation in risk attitudes that existing modeling approaches may obscure. buff.ly/4C38RGI

Econometrica Volume 93, Issue 4 (July 2025) is now online www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Can private insurance fill gaps from public disability insurance (DI) cuts? Studying a German reform, Seibold, @sseitzecon.bsky.social & @sigginho.bsky.social find modest private DI take-up, no adverse selection & efficiency gains, but an equity case for public DI. buff.ly/A0x8RSu

Analyzing scientists' biographies during the baby boom, we find that mothers have a unique life cycle pattern of productivity. Children reduce the productivity of mothers but not fathers, with important implications for promotions and participation. buff.ly/39WbYRH

We study how trade policy can reduce global emissions. Unilateral carbon border taxes have limited efficacy at cutting foreign emissions. By contrast, coordinated trade penalties under a climate club prove highly effective. buff.ly/NEE3Uy8

We are excited to announce that the following new associate editors with expertise in economic theory joined the editorial board of Econometrica on July 1st, 2025: Piotr Dworczak (Northwestern University), Ryota Iijima (Princeton University), and Yves Sprumont (Deakin University).

We are excited to announce that the following new associate editors with expertise in political economy joined the editorial board of Econometrica on July 1st, 2025: Hülya Eraslan (Rice University) and Eric Weese (Tokyo University).

We are excited to announce the following new AEs with expertise in IO, labor, and applied micro: Francesco Decarolis (Bocconi University), Thomas Lemieux (VSE), Mathias Reynaert (TSE), Eduardo Souza-Rodrigues (University of Toronto), and Andrew Sweeting (Maryland University)

We are excited to announce that the following new associate editors with expertise in macroeconomics and international economics joined the editorial board of ECMA on July 1st, 2025: Jennifer La'O (Columbia University), Michael Peters (Yale University), and Stephen Redding (Princeton University).

We are excited to announce that the following new associate editors with expertise in econometrics joined the editorial board of Econometrica on July 1st, 2025: Alexei Onatski (University of Cambridge), Adam M. Rosen (Duke University), and Jörg Stoye (Cornell University).

We are thrilled to have Aureo de Paula (UCL), Keisuke Hirano (Penn State), Pete Klenow (Stanford), & Marciano Siniscalchi (Northwestern) join the editorial board as coeditors, starting July 1st. They will handle papers on a wide range of topics in IO, econometrics, macro, and economic theory.

Co-editors Kate Ho and Chad Jones left the editorial board at the end of June 2025. We are very grateful to them for their contributions. The journal has greatly benefited from their insight and energy.

We are thankful to Marina Halac, who will transition from Co-editor to become the Editor, starting July 1st, 2025. She will continue to handle papers on a wide range of topics in economic theory.

On June 30, 2025, Guido Imbens stepped down as Editor. We express our immense gratitude for his six years of exceptional service and leadership.

Econometric analysis typically ignores researcher incentives. This article frames experimental data analysis as a mechanism-design problem, showing how unbiased estimation and sample splitting can resolve conflicts of interest. buff.ly/d14eAyH

Econometrica continues to allow for online comments. There have so far been four comments published on papers in the March 2025 issue www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Econometrica Volume 93, Issue 3 (May 2025) is now online www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Incorporating informative Bayesian priors offers the ability to learn more from experiments. @leoiacovone.bsky.social , @economeager.bsky.social & @dmckenzie.bsky.social demonstrate how to do this in the context of a Colombian exporting experiment. buff.ly/CwdGmKE

Public funds to Italian firms in disadvantaged areas (ex. Law 488/92) permanently increased employment, but allocation matters: Firms selected by objective rules create more jobs per € than those favored by local politicians. buff.ly/jcc6d6U

What are the welfare effects of surge pricing? Using Uber data, I develop an empirical model of spatial equilibrium composed of demand, supply, and matching. I find that surge pricing raises total welfare, benefitting riders but hurting drivers. buff.ly/bhTiz9y

We develop and estimate a model of search with spatial learning. Consumers update on unsearched items that are close to searched items in characteristic space. This rationalizes path dependence in search data and allows platforms to manipulate search paths.https://buff.ly/fAaQFqe

Liu and Bernhardt analyze auctions where a seller need not give all cash flows to the bidder who controls the asset. They characterize when splitting control and cash flows between bidders raises revenues by reducing bidder information rents. buff.ly/RX5xSXQ

Common law fiduciary duty increases returns of annuity products sold by financial advisers but reduces firm entry. We decompose its effects on incentives to provide high-quality advice and on adviser costs and discuss implications of stricter regulation. buff.ly/m3yJbjp

Partisan, industry and advocacy groups exert pressure on editorial offices to slant the news. This competition rationalizes empirical patterns of bias at the news item level and the rational demand for known biased channels by rational consumers. buff.ly/Q4JgMS8

Large-scale labor contracting in India has diminished the bite of long standing labor laws in India that imposed costs on large firms. Adoption of contract labor led to an expansion of large firms and a 7.3% increase in aggregate TFP. buff.ly/QeLQyLX

Does collateral affect consumer borrowing? Collier, Ellis, & Keys (2025) examine US disaster loans, which only require collateral for loans above a threshold (e.g., $25K). Collateral requirements reduce credit demand but also default rates. buff.ly/YyyROac

Why are voters and parties so divided on cultural issues? Why do low-income voters support the right? This paper shows that economic change raising the salience of the educational divide can shift voters' social identities, explaining these phenomena. buff.ly/4lyO5A4

How can we design algorithms that maximize social welfare, rather than profits? This paper merges multi-armed bandits and adversarial learning with optimal tax theory and welfare economics. @maxkasy @NicoloCB @Rcolomboni buff.ly/pxPY8nj

Value-added estimates for 14,000 nursing homes show substantial within-market heterogeneity, pointing to gains from policies that encourage patient reallocation. @liraneinav, Amy Finkelstein, @nealemahoney buff.ly/xCg1Zmo

Who wins and loses from neighborhood change? We model consumption amenities as a market outcome where supply caters to the heterogenous tastes of local population. Our empirical application quantifies the distributional effects of mass tourism in Amsterdam.https://buff.ly/ZOQBK1V

We analyze bandit experiments using diffusion processes and derive optimal Bayes and minimax policies via PDEs. These policies outperform Thompson sampling, often halving its risk. Efficient solutions use sparse matrices or Monte-Carlo methods. www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

The first online comment has been posted on the Econometrica website on one of the papers in the March issue. Hopefully more to come. @paulgp.com www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Who benefits when platforms use historical consumer data for pricing? Total consumer surplus falls but most consumers benefit at the expense of those with the highest WTP. Platform sellers benefit even though they do not have access to consumer data. www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

We are pleased to announce an experiment intended to stimulate academic discussion and exchange, centered on papers published in Econometrica 1/5

Study compares emission quotas and taxes. Quota equilibrium always exists, while tax equilibrium may not. The same quota can lead to different prices, and the same tax to different emission levels. This multiplicity of equilibria drives their inequivalence www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

For object assignment without monetary transfers, Random Serial Dictatorship was long conjectured to be the only strategy-proof, ex post efficient & symmetric rule. We show that it is not. Further, we investigate when it cannot be Pareto-dominated ex ante. www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

Study shows incarceration causes short-term earnings drops while in prison (13% in 5 years), but finds no long-term negative effects on employment or wages. Low earnings among formerly incarcerated likely stem from pre-existing factors, not incarceration. www.econometricsociety.org/publications...

We propose a novel Bayesian inference method for the average treatment effect that is asymptotically efficient and possesses double robustness. In applications, our method provides accurate point estimates and powerful uncertainty quantification. buff.ly/K8csIC6

How does persistent private information impact optimal insurance provision and inequality? When agents' private info is ergodic, optimal contracts lead to immiseration. Higher persistence leads to faster immiseration, less insurance, and more inequality. buff.ly/Z1LzJpV

@benvatter Asymmetric info and market power distort quality provision. Quality scores coordinate consumers, marshaling their demand to offset producer market power and increase quality investment. In MA, simple scores offer large welfare improvements. buff.ly/Zuqk4aD