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updated on December 2015

Address:

Department of Economics, Cornell University
476 Uris Hall, Ithaca NY 14853-7601
Phone: (607) 255-1912
FAX: (607) 255-2818
E-mail: sc163@cornell.edu

Citizenship:

U.S. Citizen since Jan 16, 2014

Education:

Ph.D. in Economics, June 1988
Northwestern University, Evanston IL 60208

M.A. in Public Policy and Planning, September 1981
University of Sussex, Falmer, Sussex, England

B.Sc (Econ). in Economics, First Class Honors, June 1980
University College of Swansea, Swansea, Gwent, Wales

Present Position:
(since July 1, 1998)

Kiplinger Professor of Public Policy
Department of Economics, Cornell University

Previous Positions:
(Jan 2004-Jun 2004)

(Jul 1997-Jun 1998)


(Jul 1993-Jun 1997)


(Jul 1990-Jun 1993)


(Jul 1988-Jun 1990)

Professor of Economics
Department of Economics, Yale University

Associate Professor of Economics (with tenure)
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

Assistant Professor of Economics
Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

Assistant Professor of Public Policy
Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

Areas of Interest:

Public Economics; Political Economy; Microeconomic Theory

Honors:


Fellow of the Econometric Society, 2004

Irving B. Kravis Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, 1992 and 1993

Grants:

NSF Grant 2005-2007 (joint with Brian Knight)

University of Pennsylvania Research Foundation Fellowship, 1991 and 1994

Alfred P. Sloan Dissertation Fellowship, 1987-1988

Professional Affiliations:

Research Associate
National Bureau of Economic Research
Public Economics and Political Economy Programs

Editorships:

Co-Editor, Journal of Public Economics,
January 1, 1998 - December 31, 2003.

Associate Editor, American Economic Review,
since June 1, 2004 - Mar 31, 2010

Associate Editor, Quarterly Journal of Economics,
since September 1, 2008

Associate Editor, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy,
since May 1, 2010

Publications:

  • “Evaluating the Social Optimality of Durable Public Good Provision using the Housing Price Response to Public Investment,” International Economic Review, forthcoming (with Yanlei Ma).
  • “Property Taxation, Zoning, and Efficiency in a Dynamic Tiebout Model,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, forthcoming (with Levon Barseghyan).
  • “A Political Economy Theory of Fiscal Policy and Unemployment,” Journal of the European Economic Association, forthcoming (with Marco Battaglini).
  • “Bureaucrats, Voters, and Public Investment,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol 119, November 2014, 35-48 (with Levon Barseghyan).
  • “Fiscal Policy over the Real Business Cycle: A Positive Theory,” Journal of Economic Theory, Vol 148, No. 6, November 2013, 2223-2265. (with Levon Barseghyan and Marco Battaglini).
  • “Government Form and Public Spending: Theory and Evidence from U.S. Municipalities,” American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, Vol 3, No. 3, August 2011, 82-112 (with Brian Knight).
  • “Pet Overpopulation: An Economic Analysis,” The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, Vol 10, No. 1 (Advances), December 2010, Article 106 (with Brian Knight).
  • “Issue Unbundling via Citizens' Initiatives,” Quarterly Journal of Political Science, Vol 3, No.4, December 2008, 379-397 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “The Performance of Pivotal-Voter Models in Small-Scale Elections: Evidence from Texas Liquor Referenda,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol 92, No. 3-4, April 2008, 582-596 (with Michael Conlin and Andrea Moro).
  • “Pareto Efficient Income Taxation with Stochastic Abilities,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol 92, No. 3-4, April 2008, 844-868 (with Marco Battaglini).
  • “A Dynamic Theory of Public Spending, Taxation, and Debt,” American Economic Review, Vol 98, No. 1, March 2008, 201-236 (with Marco Battaglini). (Reviewed in NAJ Economics, Vol 13, May 2006. Awarded the Michael Wallerstein Award 2008 for the best article published in the area of political economy in 2008.)
  • “Socially Optimal Districting: A Theoretical and Empirical Exploration,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol 122, No. 4, November 2007, 1409-1471 (with Brian Knight).
  • “Inefficiency in Legislative Policy-Making: A Dynamic Analysis,” American Economic Review, Vol 97, No. 1, March 2007, 118-149 (with Marco Battaglini).
  • “Market Provision of Broadcasting: A Welfare Analysis,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol 72, No. 4, October 2005, 947-972 (with Simon Anderson).
  • “A Group Rule-Utilitarian Approach to Voter Turnout: Theory and Evidence,” American Economic Review, Vol 94, No. 5, December 2004, 1476-1504 (with Michael Conlin).
  • “Political Competition with Campaign Contributions and Informative Advertising,” Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol 2, No. 5, September 2004, 772-804.
  • “Pareto Improving Campaign Finance Policy,” American Economic Review, Vol 94, No. 3, June 2004, 628-655.
  • “Centralized versus Decentralized Provision of Local Public Goods: A Political Economy Analysis,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol 87, No. 12, December 2003, 2611-2637 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Elected versus Appointed Regulators: Theory and Evidence,” Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol 1, No. 5, September 2003, 1176-1205 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “On the Public Choice Critique of Welfare Economics,” Public Choice, Vol 114, No. 3-4, March 2003, 253-273 (with Timothy Besley). (Awarded the Duncan Black Prize 2004 for the best paper published in Public Choice in 2003.)
  • “and Welfare in a Representative Democracy,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 68, No. 1, January 2001, 67-82 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Efficiency Approach to the Evaluation of Policy Changes,” Economic Journal, Vol. 110, No. 463, April 2000, 437-455.
  • “Policy Persistence,” American Economic Review, Vol. 89, No. 5, December 1999, 1327-1336 (with Stephen Morris).
  • “Sources of Inefficiency in a Representative Democracy: A Dynamic Analysis,” American Economic Review, Vol. 88, No. 1, March 1998, 139-156 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “An Economic Model of Representative Democracy,” Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol. 112, No. 1, February 1997, 85-106 (with Timothy Besley). (Reprinted in Readings in Political Economy, Kaushik Basu, ed., Blackwell: 2002 and Rational Choice Politics, Torun Dewan, Keith Dowding and Kenneth Shepsle, eds., Sage: 2009)
  • “On the Form of Transfers to Special Interests,” Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 103, No. 6, December 1995, 1210-1235 (with Stephen Morris). (Reprinted in Rational Choice Politics, Torun Dewan, Keith Dowding and Kenneth Shepsle, eds., Sage: 2009)
  • “The Design of Income Maintenance Programs,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 62, No. 2, April 1995, 187-221 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Altruism, the Samaritan's Dilemma and Government Transfer Policy,” American Economic Review, Vol. 85, No. 1, March 1995, 46-57.
  • “Group Lending, Repayment Incentives and Social Collateral,” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 41, No. 1, February 1995, 1-18 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Rotating Savings and Credit Associations, Credit Markets and Efficiency,” Review of Economic Studies, Vol. 61, No. 4, October 1994, 710-719 (with Timothy Besley and Glenn Loury).
  • “Pecuniary Redistribution through In-kind Programs,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 55, No. 1, September 1994, 19-40 (with Stephen Johnson and Richard Zeckhauser).
  • “Will Affirmative Action Policies Eliminate Negative Stereotypes?” American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 5, December 1993, 1220-1240 (with Glenn Loury). (Reprinted in The Economics of Affirmative Action, Harry Holzer and David Neumark, eds., Edward Elgar: 2004.)
  • “The Economics of Rotating Savings and Credit Associations,” American Economic Review, Vol. 83, No. 4, September 1993, 792-810 (with Timothy Besley and Glenn Loury). (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Economic Development, Dilip Mookherjee and Debraj Ray, eds., Blackwell: 2000.)
  • “Reciprocity without Commitment: Characterization and Performance of Informal Risk-Sharing Arrangements,” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 40, No. 1, February 1993, 1-24 (with Martin Ravallion). (Reprinted in Readings in the Theory of Economic Development, Dilip Mookherjee and Debraj Ray, eds., Blackwell: 2000.)
  • “Understanding Welfare Stigma: Taxpayer Resentment and Statistical Discrimination,” Journal of Public Economics, Vol. 48, No. 1, July 1992, 165-183 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Labor Market Discrimination, Imperfect Information and Self Employment,” Oxford Economic Papers, Vol. 44, No. 2, April 1992, 272-288 (with Sharon Tennyson).
  • “Workfare vs. Welfare: Incentive Arguments for Work Requirements in Poverty Alleviation Programs,” American Economic Review, Vol. 82, No. 1, March 1992, 249-261 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Public Provision of Private Goods and the Redistribution of Income,” American Economic Review, Vol. 81, No. 4, September 1991, 979-984 (with Timothy Besley).
  • “Public Utility Pricing and Capacity Choice under Risk: A Rational Expectations Approach,” Journal of Regulatory Economics, Vol. 1, No. 4, December 1989, 305-317 (with John Panzar).
  • “Cash versus Direct Food Relief,” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 30, No. 2, April 1989, 199-224. (Reprinted in The Economics of Famine, Jean Dreze, ed., Edward Elgar: 1999)

Other Published Papers:

  • “The Political Economy of Fiscal Policy,” Journal of the European Economic Association, Vol 6, No. 2-3, April-May 2008, 367-380 (with Marco Battaglini).
  • “Policy Conditionality,” in Globalization and the Nation State: the Impact of the IMF and World Bank, James Vreeland and Gustav Ranis, eds., Routledge: 2005 (with Stephen Morris).
  • “Anti-Discrimination Enforcement and the Problem of Patronization,” American Economic Review (Papers and Proceedings), Vol. 83, No. 2, May 1993, 92-98 (with Glenn Loury).
  • “Incentives, Information, and Welfare: England's New Poor Law and the Workhouse Test,” in History Matters: Essays on Economic Growth, Technology and Demographic Change, Timothy Guinnane, William Sundstrom and Warren Whatley, eds., Stanford University Press: 2004 (with Timothy Besley and Timothy Guinnane).

Unpublished Papers:

  • “The Costs and Benefits of Balanced Budget Rules: Lessons from a Political Economy Model of Fiscal Policy,” latest revision February 2015 (with Marina Azzimonti and Marco Battaglini).
  • “Public School Choice: An Economic Analysis,” November 2014 (with Levon Barseghyan and Damon Clark).
  • “Optimal Fiscal Limits,” October 2014

Book Reviews:

  • Markets and Famines, Martin Ravallion, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1987, Journal of Development Studies, Vol. 25, No. 2, January 1989.
  • Preventing Famine: Policies and Prospects for Africa, Donald Curtis et al, Routledge, London, 1988, Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 32, No. 1, January 1990.

Invited Seminars since 2000:
Binghamton University (2012, 2003), Boston University (2013, 2006), Brown University (2001), California Institute of Technology (2006), Cambridge University (2006), Carleton University (2002), Carnegie Mellon University (2000), Columbia University (2002), Duke University (2012, 2003), Florida State University (2009), Georgetown University (2006), Harvard University (2010, 2006, 2001), Johns Hopkins University (2007, 2002), London School of Economics (2011, 2006, 2002), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2000), NBER (2011), New York University (2002), Northwestern University (2003), Ohio State University (2006), Oxford University (2006), Princeton University (2005, 2000), Queen's University (2009, 2006, 2001), Rutgers University (2005), Simon Fraser University (2009), Stanford University (2000), Stockholm University (2001), Syracuse University (2002), University of British Columbia (2009, 2002), University of California at Berkeley (2005, 2002), University of California at San Diego (2002), University of Chicago (2011), University of Colorado at Boulder (2003), University of East Anglia (2013), University of Exeter (2013), University of Florida (2000), University of Houston (2011), University of Kentucky (2000), University of Maryland (2008, 2001), University of Miami (2010), University of Munich (2006), University of Pennsylvania (2010, 2002), University of Pittsburgh (2014), University of Quebec at Montreal (2007), University of Rochester (2006, 2000), University of Southern California (2002), University of Toronto (2010), University of Virginia (2006, 2003), University of Warwick (2008), University of Wisconsin (2006), Vanderbilt University (2000), Wake Forest University (2012), Yale University (2004, 2002), York University (2008).

Contact Information

Stephen Coate
Kiplinger Professor of Public Policy
476 Uris Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853

E-mail: sc163@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 255-1912
Fax: (607) 255-2818