The extent of government in private contractual relationships is a vexing public policy issue. This article explores, both theoretically and empirically, the degree to which such intervention may enhance employment. Economists traditionally have held that interventions such as wrongful discharge protections simply undo the original intent of the parties to an employment contract. We find that both good faith as well as implied contract exceptions to employment-at-will may enhance employment, particularly in occupations characterised by high levels of investment and skill. This suggests that under the appropriate conditions, labour law may enhance the operation of a competitive market.It would be unfair to allow an employer to distribute a policy manual that makes the workforce believe that certain promises have been made and then to allow the employer to renege on these promises.Judge C. J. Wilentz, Woolley v. Hoffmann-La Roch Inc., 99 A.2d 284 (1985).The appropriate degree of government intervention in private contractual relationships -particularly in employment law -remains a contentious public policy issue. An especially puzzling aspect of the debate is the gulf between theory and practice. Most countries have some form of labour law regulation that restricts an employer's ability to hire and fire a worker at will. Yet, in economic theory there is a general presumption, exemplified by the 1994 OECD jobs study, that at-will employment contracts allow firms to adjust their labour force efficiently in response to demand shocks. Moreover, as Lazear (1990) argues, in a world with Coasian bargaining, parties should agree to efficient contract terms. Hence, even if government intervention is inefficient, private parties would negotiate around these terms, thus such regulation can be expected to have minimal impact.Drawing upon the literature on incomplete contracts, we show how employment law may enhance the regulation of the employment relationship. Specifically, our model suggests that when relationship specific investments are likely to be important, then employment laws that increase the quality of employee monitoring lead to less employee turnover and more productive relationships. We then explore this idea empirically using the current population survey and state employment law changes from 1983-1994.Since relationship specific investment cannot be directly observed, we use proxies for these investments that are exogenous to the changes in employment law that have * We are indebted to David Autor who shared with us very useful information and data from his previous work; he also gave us thoughtful suggestions. We are grateful to

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This study examines whether certain observed characteristics are associated people's altruistic feelings and behaviors. The paper utilizes a National Mental Health Survey that gathered questions about respondents' self-reported altruism along with their demographic, labor force, and income information. The empirical results reveal that (1) older people are more altruistic; (2) higher income people are more altruistic; and (3) women are more altruistic. The results are robust once the potential endogeneity problem of the income variable is eliminated by the use of the instrumental variable estimation method.

The literature is well aware that blockchain-based digital assets would constitute a new asset class. However, it has been rather silent about the distinction among them. This paper discusses the digital tokens' differences and similarities by their (i) creation and initial distribution; (ii) intended properties; (iii) actual usage; and (iv) behaviors. Although the digital tokens are indistinguishable in some aspects, they differ in the way they are created and initially distributed. Some of them have distinguishable risk and return profiles. Therefore, we take a view that the digital tokens take (or will take) different roles in the financial systems; should be classified under different asset classes; and should be subject to different sets of regulations (although some may overlap).