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Recent studies by economists exploring the nexus between culture and fertility have focused on cultural transmission from the origin country rather than the origin family. Our paper extends this avenue of research by investigating how family-specific ‘cultural transmission ’ can affect fertility rates. In this context, we define ‘culture ’ as referring to intra-family norms, and ‘cultural transmission ’ refers to the transfer of these norms across generations within a family. We also allow for peer-group influences through the inclusion of controls for age cohorts and for non-English speaking country of birth. Following the methodology of Miranda (2005) and Machado and Santos Silva (2005), we estimate count data quantile regression models. Using unique data from the British Household Panel Survey, we find that a woman’s origin-family size is positively associated with her own completed fertility in the destination family and that her country of birth also matters. The effect of origin family size increases as we move from the lower to the upper tail of the conditional fertility distribution. For a sub-sample of continuously partnered men and women, both partners ’ origin-family sizes significantly affect destinationfamily fertility. Our findings are robust to a number of specification checks.

This paper introduces a new multivariate model for time series count data. The Multivariate Autoregressive Conditional Poisson model (MACP) makes it possible to deal with issues of discreteness, overdispersion (variance greater than the mean) and both auto- and cross-correlation. We model counts as Poisson or double Poisson and assume that conditionally on past observations the means follow a Vector Autoregression. We use a copula to introduce contemporaneous correlation between the series. An important advantage of this model is that it can accommodate both positive and negative correlation among variables. As a feasible alternative to multivariate duration models, the model is applied to the submission of market orders and quote revisions on IBM on the New York Stock Exchange. We show that a single factor cannot explain the dynamics of the market process, which confirms that time deformation, taken as meaning that all market events should accelerate or slow down proportionately, does not hold. We advocate the use of the Multivariate Autoregressive Conditional Poisson model for the study of multivariate point processes in finance, when the number of variables considered simultaneously exceeds two and looking at durations becomes too difficult. ∗ The authors would like to thank Luc Bauwens, Philippe Lambert and David Veredas for helpful discus-sions and suggestions. The usual disclaimers apply. 1 1

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generated as a finite mixture of gamma variates. Data generated in this way can naturally have a large proportion of zeros and is fully compatible with constant elasticity models such as the gravity equation. Our results confirm that the Poisson pseudo maximum likelihood estimator is generally well behaved.

We investigate the impact of an information shock – the public exposure of the names and addresses of holders of handgun carry permits – on criminals ’ propensity to commit crimes. In December 2008, a Memphis, TN newspaper published a searchable online database of names, zip codes, and ages of Tennessee handgun carry permit holders. Once news of the database publication spread, an intense and acrimonious debate arose. Permit holders flooded the newspaper demanding its removal, on the grounds that the database invaded their privacy. Gun rights associations argued that the newspaper had put law-abiding gun owners at risk, giving criminals a pathway to burglarize their homes. The newspaper responded by suggesting that any criminal who perused the database would, in fact, be more likely to avoid households they believed to contain guns. We use detailed crime and handgun carry permit data for Memphis to estimate the impact of the database publication on different types of crime. We find that crimes more likely to be affected by knowledge of gun ownership- such as burglaries- increased more significantly, after the database was publicized, in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits. We find no comparable

related to innovation policies.

It is widely recognized that networks of collaborative relationships among firms are one important form of organization of innovative activities (see for example Powell, Koput,

Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin) and proceeded with Alan Zuckerman’s tenure as a British Academy Visiting

Without whom I would not have found the motivation, the will, or the sense of humor needed to finish this dissertation. ii Acknowledgements I began my graduate studies in 2006 as the only student in the Wharton Real Estate doctoral program. Any initial misgivings about my unique status were quickly overcome as I met and came to know the faculty and administrators of the Real Estate Department. It is a wonderful group of people who, both collectively and individually, never failed to offer their help or advice whenever I needed it. I would like to take this opportunity to thank a few of them, as well as some others who helped me along the way. First, I am deeply grateful to Todd Sinai, who guided me expertly through the lengthy dissertation process and the job market. He was a constant source of encouragement and good cheer at the moments when I most needed them. His mentorship will always be reflected in my best work as an economist. Despite his many obligations, Joe Gyourko made himself available to me whenever I needed his wisdom. Thanks to his ability to break down complicated issues quickly and