NATIONAL BUREAU OF ECONOMIC RESEARCH, INC.

Political Economy Working Group Meeting

November 19, 2005

Alberto Alesina, Organizer

NBER

2nd Floor Conference Room

1050 Massachusetts Avenue

Cambridge, Massachusetts

PROGRAM

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18:
7:00 pm	Group Dinner
	Davio’s at the Royal Sonesta Hotel
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19:
8:15 am	Shuttle Van Departs Royal Sonesta Hotel for NBER
8:30 am	Continental Breakfast
9:00 am	TIMOTHY BESLEY, London School of Economics
	TORSTEN PERSSON, IIES, Stockholm University and NBER
	DANIEL STURM, University of Munich
	Political Competition and Economic Performance: Theory and Evidence from the United States
	Discussant: ROBERTO PEROTTI, Universita Bocconi and NBER
10:00 am	Coffee Break
10:30 am	ALLAN DRAZEN, University of Maryland and NBER
	MARCELA ESLAVA, Universidad de los Andes
	Pork Barrel Cycles
	Discussant: ALESSANDRO LIZZERI, New York University
11:30 am	JOHN FRIEDMAN and RICHARD HOLDEN, Harvard University
	Optimal Gerrymandering
	Discussant: ROLAND FRYER, Harvard University
12:30 pm	Lunch
2:00 pm	KENNETH SOKOLOFF, UC, Los Angeles and NBER ERIC ZOLT, UC, Los Angeles
	Inequality and the Evolution of Institutions of Taxation: Evidence from the Economic History of the Americas
	Discussant: WILLIAM EASTERLY, New York University
3:00 pm	Coffee Break
3:15 pm	PER PETTERSSON-LIDBOM, Stockholm University
	MATZ DAHLBERG, Uppsala University
	An Empirical Approach for Estimating the Causal Effect of Soft Budget Constraints on Economic Outcomes
	Discussant: ANTONIO MERLO, University of Pennsylvania
4:15 pm	Adjourn
10/18/05