The 2016 AEJ Best Paper Prizes have been awarded.  The papers selected are highlighted below.

In Legal Status and the Criminal Activity of Immigrants, authors Giovanni Mastrobuoni and Paolo Pinotti study a mass prisoner release in Italy that coincided with an EU expansion that granted legal status to previously undocumented immigrants from Romania and Bulgaria. They find that recidivism rates declined for the immigrants who gained legal status, suggesting that a lack of legal job opportunities is driving at least some crime among immigrants.

In Death by Market Power: Reform, Competition, and Patient Outcomes in the National Health Service, authors Martin Gaynor, Rodrigo Moreno-Serra, and Carol Propper study an initiative by the English National Health Service designed to promote competition by allowing patients to choose between five hospitals for care (previously, patients were assigned to hospitals with no choice in most cases). They find that the newfound competitive pressures inspired hospitals to improve their standard of care, reducing mortality and wait times, without appreciably increasing costs.

In Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs, and Economic Activity, authors Mark Gertler and Peter Karadi analyze the way that monetary policy announcements by the Fed affect the short-term interest rate and, in turn, credit costs like mortgage rates. They find that the effect of a surprising Fed announcement on credit costs tends to be disproportionately big, suggesting greater frictions in financial markets than previously thought.

In Nonlinear Pricing of Storable Goods, authors Igal Hendel, Alessandro Lizzeri, and Nikita Roketskiy study the incentives of firms offering bulk discounts in a context where consumers can stockpile goods like toothpaste or toilet paper. They find that monopolists should gravitate toward large, infrequent bulk sales to keep consumers from taking advantage of bulk discounts.