Economic InquiryPub Date : 2026-07-05Epub Date: 2026-03-15DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70051
Maria Perrotta Berlin, Martin Dufwenberg, Bei Qin, Giancarlo Spagnolo
{"title":"Asymmetric sanctions and corruption: Theory and practice in China","authors":"Maria Perrotta Berlin, Martin Dufwenberg, Bei Qin, Giancarlo Spagnolo","doi":"10.1111/ecin.70051","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70051","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Asymmetric punishment of partners in crime, intended to incentivize whistle-blowing, may increase detection and deterrence. The idea is age-old but its use against corruption is not frequent. We study a 1997 Chinese reform that strengthened such asymmetries for some forms of bribery. Using a game-theoretic model and prosecution data, we show that combining leniency for both bribe-givers and bribe-takers can backfire by weakening incentives to report, and document a sharp decline in corruption prosecutions after the reform. Our findings suggest that the reform may have reflected increased tolerance for small bribes, and draw lessons for the design of anti-corruption policies.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 3","pages":"868-885"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.70051","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148389173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic InquiryPub Date : 2026-07-05Epub Date: 2026-04-20DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70063
Mark Christopher Kelly
{"title":"The role of foreign capital flows in health finance","authors":"Mark Christopher Kelly","doi":"10.1111/ecin.70063","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70063","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This study develops an open economy version of the health deficit model to examine how rising health expenditures affect international capital flows, external balances, and welfare. The government issues bonds in international capital markets, linking health policy to international financial dynamics. Calibrated to the UK, the model evaluates income growth, medical innovation, and population aging shocks under balanced budget and deficit spending regimes. Results show that the source of health spending growth determines the direction of capital flows, and that deficit-financed health spending generally yields higher welfare by enabling additional health investment without higher domestic taxation.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 3","pages":"1005-1025"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.70063","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148389244","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic InquiryPub Date : 2026-07-05Epub Date: 2026-03-28DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70054
Robertas Zubrickas
{"title":"Reference dependence and lottery participation","authors":"Robertas Zubrickas","doi":"10.1111/ecin.70054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70054","url":null,"abstract":"<p>We assume that lottery participants are poor relative to their target income. Reference dependence with loss aversion can render the marginal utility of income non-monotonic in line with the Friedman–Savage hypothesis. As a result, lottery participation can be rationalized without invoking probability weighting. The theoretical implications align with recent empirical evidence on lottery spending.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 3","pages":"886-894"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.70054","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148389152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic InquiryPub Date : 2026-07-05Epub Date: 2026-04-08DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70057
Yu Wang
{"title":"The effect of high school gender composition on university major choice: Evidence from Canada","authors":"Yu Wang","doi":"10.1111/ecin.70057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70057","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Does the gender composition of high school peers affect whether students pursue a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) major at university? Using administrative data from British Columbia, Canada, I exploit idiosyncratic within-school variation in gender composition. I find that having larger proportions of female peers has large and strong effects on students' STEM major choice. Such effects differ in both sign and magnitude across gender, high school type, and stage of high school education.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 3","pages":"1116-1156"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.70057","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148389263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Economic InquiryPub Date : 2026-07-05Epub Date: 2026-03-11DOI: 10.1111/ecin.70053
Lilly Springer
{"title":"Downstream effects of post-Dobbs abortion bans: Birth rates and WIC","authors":"Lilly Springer","doi":"10.1111/ecin.70053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.70053","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Abortion bans tend to impact the cohorts of women that are eligible for the supplemental nutrition program special supplemental nutrition program for women, infants, and children the most. I use synthetic difference-in-differences models and 2017–2023 monthly state-level data to estimate the change in birth rates and WIC participation that states with total abortion bans experience. States that implemented total abortion bans by the start of 2023 experience a 1.6% increase in the overall birth rate in 2023 and a 4.3% and 2.1% increase in monthly postpartum women and formula-fed infant WIC participation respectively, leading to a total additional $6.9 million in food costs.</p>","PeriodicalId":51380,"journal":{"name":"Economic Inquiry","volume":"64 3","pages":"830-843"},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2026-07-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/ecin.70053","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148389138","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"经济学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}