Behavioral interventions have become central to modern public policy, but their empirical promise remains contested because estimated treatment effects often appear small. We argue that a policy response is economically meaningful only relative to the response generated by alternative policies....

Consider a referee report containing the sentence: “Assignment to treatment was voluntary, though the authors acknowledge this as a limitation in the conclusion.” The Editor would summarily reject. Now replace “assignment to treatment” with “entry into the experimental sample,” and...

We examine the role of central bank reserves and public liquidity when secondary markets may freeze. Central bank reserves help intermediaries purchase assets during stress but crowd out investment. Under laissez-faire, intermediaries hold insufficient reserves, overlooking how aggregate liquidity reduces...