-
作者:Bernard, Andrew B.; Redding, Stephen J.; Schott, Peter K.
作者单位:Princeton University; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:This article develops a general equilibrium model of multiple-product, multiple-destination firms, which allows for heterogeneity in ability across firms and in product attributes within firms. Firms make endogenous entry and exit decisions and each surviving firm chooses optimally the range of products to supply to each market. We show that the resulting selection, across and within firms, provides a natural explanation for a number of features of trade across firms, products, and countries. ...
-
作者:Besley, Timothy; Persson, Torsten
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Stockholm University
摘要:This article offers a unified approach for studying political violence whether it emerges as repression or civil war. We formulate a model where an incumbent or opposition can use violence to maintain or acquire power to study which political and economic factors drive one-sided or two-sided violence (repression or civil war). The model predicts a hierarchy of violence states from peace via repression to civil war; and suggests a natural empirical approach. Exploiting only within-country varia...
-
作者:Lewis, Gregory; Bajari, Patrick
作者单位:Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Minnesota System; University of Minnesota Twin Cities
摘要:In public procurement, social welfare often depends on how quickly the good is delivered. A leading example is highway construction, where slow completion inflicts a negative externality on commuters. In response, highway departments award some contracts using scoring auctions, which give contractors explicit incentives for accelerated delivery. We characterize efficient design of these mechanisms. We then gather an extensive data set of highway projects awarded by the California Department of...
-
作者:Piketty, Thomas
作者单位:Paris School of Economics
摘要:This article attempts to document and account for the long-run evolution of inheritance. We find that in a country like France the annual flow of inheritance was about 20-25% of national income between 1820 and 1910, down to less than 5% in 1950, and back up to about 15% by 2010. A simple theoretical model of wealth accumulation, growth, and inheritance can fully account for the observed U-shaped pattern and levels. Using this model, we find that under plausible assumptions the annual bequest ...
-
作者:Dube, Arindrajit; Kaplan, Ethan; Naidu, Suresh
作者单位:University of Massachusetts System; University of Massachusetts Amherst; University System of Maryland; University of Maryland College Park; Stockholm University; Columbia University; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:We estimate the impact of coups and top-secret coup authorizations on asset prices of partially nationalized multinational companies that stood to benefit from U.S.-backed coups. Stock returns of highly exposed firms reacted to coup authorizations classified as top-secret. The average cumulative abnormal return to a coup authorization was 9% over 4 days for a fully nationalized company, rising to more than 13% over 16 days. Precoup authorizations accounted for a larger share of stock price inc...
-
作者:Antras, Pol; Costinot, Arnaud
作者单位:Harvard University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要:This paper develops a simple model of international trade with intermediation. We consider an economy with two islands and two types of agents, farmers and traders. Farmers can produce two goods, but to sell these goods in centralized (Walrasian) markets, they need to be matched with a trader, and this entails costly search. In the absence of search frictions, our model reduces to a standard Ricardian model of trade. We use this simple model to contrast the implications of changes in the integ...
-
作者:Matsa, David A.
作者单位:Northwestern University
摘要:This article analyzes the effect of competition on a supermarket firm's incentive to provide product quality. In the supermarket industry, product availability is an important measure of quality. Using U.S. Consumer Price Index microdata to track inventory shortfalls, I find that stores facing more intense competition have fewer shortfalls. Competition from Walmart-the most significant shock to industry market structure in half a century-decreased shortfalls among large chains by about a third...
-
作者:Jayachandran, Seema; Kuziemko, Ilyana
作者单位:Northwestern University; National Bureau of Economic Research; Princeton University
摘要:Breastfeeding is negatively correlated with future fertility because nursing temporarily reduces fecundity and because mothers usually wean on becoming pregnant again. We model breastfeeding under son-biased fertility preferences and show that breastfeeding duration increases with birth order, especially near target family size; is lowest for daughters and children without older brothers because their parents try again for a son; and exhibits the largest gender gap near target family size, whe...
-
作者:Athey, Susan; Ellison, Glenn
作者单位:Harvard University; Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
摘要:This article examines a model in which advertisers bid for sponsored-link positions on a search engine. The value advertisers derive from each position is endogenized as coming from sales to a population of consumers who make rational inferences about firm qualities and search optimally. Consumer search strategies, equilibrium bidding, and the welfare benefits of position auctions are analyzed. Implications for reserve prices and a number of other auction design questions are discussed.
-
作者:Dittmar, Jeremiah E.
作者单位:American University
摘要:The printing press was the great innovation in early modern information technology, but economists have found no macroeconomic evidence of its impact. This article exploits city-level data. Between 1500 and 1600, European cities where printing presses were established in the 1400s grew 60% faster than otherwise similar cities. Cities that adopted printing in the 1400s had no prior advantage, and the association between adoption and subsequent growth was not due to printers choosing auspicious ...