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作者:Barth, Daniel; Papageorge, Nicholas W.; Thom, Kevin
作者单位:University of Southern California; Johns Hopkins University; National Bureau of Economic Research; University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison
摘要:We show that genetic endowments linked to educational attainment strongly and robustly predict wealth at retirement. The estimated relationship is not fully explained by flexibly controlling for education and labor income. We therefore investigate a host of additional mechanisms that could account for the gene-wealth gradient, including inheritances, mortality, risk preferences, portfolio decisions, beliefs about the probabilities of macroeconomic events, and planning horizons. We provide evid...
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作者:Bandiera, Oriana; Prat, Andrea; Hansen, Stephen; Sadun, Raffaella
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; Columbia University; Imperial College London; Harvard University
摘要:We develop a new method to measure CEO behavior in large samples via a survey that collects high-frequency, high-dimensional diary data and a machine learning algorithm that estimates behavioral types. Applying this method to 1,114 CEOs in six countries reveals two types: leaders, who do multifunction, high-level meetings, and managers, who do individual meetings with core functions. Firms that hire leaders perform better, and it takes three years for a new CEO to make a difference. Structural...
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作者:Bilir, L. Kamran; Morales, Eduardo
作者单位:University of Wisconsin System; University of Wisconsin Madison; National Bureau of Economic Research; Princeton University
摘要:How global are the gains from innovation? When firms operate plants in multiple countries, technological improvements developed in one location may be shared with foreign sites for efficiency gain. We develop a model that accounts for such transfer and apply it to measure returns to R&D investment for a panel of US multinationals. Our estimates indicate that innovation increases performance at firm locations beyond the innovating site: the median multinational firm realizes abroad 20% of the r...
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作者:Bhuller, Manudeep; Dahl, Gordon B.; Loken, Katrine, V; Mogstad, Magne
作者单位:Statistics Norway; University of Oslo; IZA Institute Labor Economics; Leibniz Association; Ifo Institut; University of California System; University of California San Diego; University of Bergen; National Bureau of Economic Research; Norwegian School of Economics (NHH); Statistics Norway; Center for Economic & Policy Research (CEPR); University of Chicago; Statistics Norway
摘要:Using a random judge design and panel data from Norway, we estimate that imprisonment discourages further criminal behavior, with reoffense probabilities falling by 29 percentage points and criminal charges dropping by 11 over a 5-year period. Ordinary least squares mistakenly reaches the opposite conclusion. The decline is driven by individuals not working prior to incarceration; these individuals increase participation in employment programs and raise their future employment and earnings. Pr...
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作者:Mathevet, Laurent; Perego, Jacopo; Taneva, Ina
作者单位:New York University; Columbia University; University of Edinburgh
摘要:Information provision in games influences behavior by affecting agents' beliefs about the state as well as their higher-order beliefs. We first characterize the extent to which a designer can manipulate agents' beliefs by disclosing information. We then describe the structure of optimal belief distributions, including a concave-envelope representation that subsumes the single-agent result of Kamenica and Gentzkow. This result holds under various solution concepts and outcome selection rules. F...
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作者:Berry, James; Fischer, Greg; Guiteras, Raymond P.
作者单位:University of Delaware; University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; North Carolina State University
摘要:We use the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) for and heterogeneous impacts of clean water technology through a field experiment in Ghana. Although WTP is low relative to cost, demand is inelastic at low prices. Short-run treatment effects are positive throughout the WTP distribution. After 1 year, use and benefits are both increasing in WTP, with negative effects on low-WTP households. Combining estimated treatment effects with households' WTP implies...
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作者:Cavounidis, Costas; Lang, Kevin
作者单位:University of Warwick; Boston University; National Bureau of Economic Research; IZA Institute Labor Economics
摘要:We provide microfoundations for dynamic skill formation with a model of investment in multiple skills, when jobs place different weights on skills. We show that credit constraints may affect investment even when workers do not exhaust their credit. Firms may invest in their workers' skills even when there are many similar competitors. Firm and worker incentives can lead to overinvestment. Optimal skill accumulation resembles-but is not-learning by doing. An example shows that shocks to skill p...
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作者:Gosnell, Greer K.; List, John A.; Metcalfe, Robert D.
作者单位:University of London; London School Economics & Political Science; University of Chicago; Australian National University; Boston University
摘要:Increasing evidence indicates the importance of management in determining firms' productivity. Yet causal evidence regarding the effectiveness of management practices is scarce, especially for skilled labor in the developed world. In a field experiment measuring commercial airline captains' productivity, we test four distinct management practices: performance monitoring, performance feedback, target setting, and prosocial incentives. These practices-particularly monitoring and target setting-s...
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作者:Grennan, Matthew; Swanson, Ashley
作者单位:University of Pennsylvania; National Bureau of Economic Research; Columbia University
摘要:Using data on hospitals' purchases across a large number of important product categories, we find that access to information on purchasing by peer hospitals leads to reductions in the prices hospitals negotiate for supplies. These effects are concentrated among hospitals previously paying relatively high prices for brands purchased in large volumes. Evidence from coronary stents suggests that transparency allows hospitals to resolve asymmetric information problems, but savings are limited in p...
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作者:Lee, Kenneth; Miguel, Edward; Wolfram, Catherine
作者单位:University of Chicago; University of California System; University of California Berkeley; National Bureau of Economic Research
摘要:We present results from an experiment that randomized the expansion of electric grid infrastructure in rural Kenya. Electricity distribution is a canonical example of a natural monopoly. Experimental variation in the number of connections, combined with administrative cost data, reveals considerable scale economies, as hypothesized. Randomized price offers indicate that demand for connections falls sharply with price. Among newly connected households, average electricity consumption is very lo...