Join us to hear from Tarun Sabarwal, University of Kansas, presenting, "General Theory of Equilibrium in Models with Complementarities". Abstract: We unify and generalize the equilibrium theory of foundational models of complementarities used widely in economics and other disciplines. Widely used results for existence of extremal equilibrium, nonempty complete lattice structure of the equilibrium set, and monotone comparative statics (MCS) of extremal equilibria are unified and generalized, subsuming the results for standard and neostandard models as special cases and allowing for new situations. Structure theorems due to Tarski (1955) and Zhou (1994) are generalized without using the strong set order or subcompleteness. Defining new set orders, we formulate new theories for structural comparisons of equilibrium sets, and prove new theorems for MCS of the infimum equilibrium set, the supremum equilibrium set, and the full equilibrium set. Order comparability of equilibrium sets provides a new theory of order approximation of equilibria as well. Our off-the-shelf theorems apply regardless of the manner in which individual choices are made as long as they satisfy our weak conditions, which are proved to hold in standard and neostandard models. The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics Series brings high-profile researchers to Tippie College of Business to present to an audience of faculty, PhD students, and researchers from around the University of Iowa.

Join us to hear from Jason Brown, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City. presenting, "Economic Benefits and Social Costs of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana".  Abstract: We analyze the effects of legalizing recreational marijuana on state economic and social outcomes (2000–20) using difference-in-differences estimation robust to staggered timing and heterogeneity of treatment. We find moderate economic gains and accompanied by some social costs. Post-legalization, average state income grew by 3 percent, house prices by 6 percent, and population by 2 percent. However, substance use disorders, chronic homelessness, and arrests increased by 17, 35, and 13 percent, respectively. Although some of our estimates are noisy, our findings suggest that the economic benefits of legalization are broadly distributed, while the social costs may be more concentrated among individuals who use marijuana heavily. States that legalized early experienced similar social costs but larger economic gains, implying a potential first-mover advantage. The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics Series brings high-profile researchers to Tippie College of Business to present to an audience of faculty, PhD students, and researchers from around the University of Iowa.

Join us to hear from Ben Marx, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, presenting, "Disparities in Aid for Natural Disasters". Abstract: Private transfers of aid provide ex-post support to victims of risky events, but the social insurance value of these transfers depends on how they vary with severity of the event and victim characteristics. Using detailed daily data on donations to the American Red Cross, we study patterns of natural-disaster giving using a heterogeneity robust difference-in-differences estimator. After deadly tornadoes, donations are elevated for 10 to 15 weeks within a 200-mile radius of the affected area, and responses are increasing in tornado severity. The relative giving response is similar whether a tornado strikes a high-income or low-income area, but the dollar value of donations is steeply increasing in the income of the affected area. This disparity arises because higher-income sites are located near larger and higher-income populations and because the donation response decreases in the distance between donors and the affected area. These findings suggest a role for redistribution to offset regressivity that donors themselves did not intend. The Clarence Tow Lectures in Economics Series brings high-profile researchers to Tippie College of Business to present to an audience of faculty, PhD students, and researchers from around the University of Iowa.

Join us to hear from Huiyi Guo, Texas A&M University.