Investors' return expectations are pivotal in stock markets, but the reasoning behind these expectations remains a black box for economists. This paper sheds light on economic agents' mental models - their subjective understanding - of the stock market, drawing on surveys with the US general...

Prices for, and the affordability of childcare has received increased attention since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, concerns have been raised about potential differences in childcare costs and access between rural and urban communities. To address these issues, we combine...

A slanted-L curve is well-suited to represent the non-linearity of the celebrated Phillips curve. We show this using cross-country data of major industrialized economies since 2009, including the inflationary surge of the 2020s. At high unemployment rates, an increase in demand reduces...