Jeffrey Prince and Shane Greenstein
Using data on mobile Internet usage of thousands of individuals, we provide some of the first analyses linking mobile usage to key demographics such as income. We find a reverse-U relationship between mobile Internet usage and income—notably different than the monotonically declining relationship found on home devices. We then construct a simple model of mobile Internet usage that incorporates demand features suggested by our empirical finding and prior empirical findings on device adoption and usage.
Mobile Internet usage and usage-based pricing
Buyers’ role in innovation procurement: Evidence from US military R&D contracts
Francesco Decarolis, Gaétan de Rassenfosse, Leonardo M. Giuffrida, Elisabetta Iossa, Vincenzo Mollisi, Emilio Raiteri, and Giancarlo Spagnolo
This study provides the first quantification of buyers' role in the outcome of R&D procurement contracts. We combine together four data sources on US federal R&D contracts, follow-on patented inventions, federal public workforce characteristics, and perception of their work environment. By exploiting the observability of deaths of federal employees, we find that managers' death events negatively affect innovation outcomes: a 1% increase in the share of relevant public officer deaths causes a decline of 32.3% of patents per contract, 20.5% patent citations per contract, and 34.3% patent claims per contract.
This study provides the first quantification of buyers' role in the outcome of R&D procurement contracts. We combine together four data sources on US federal R&D contracts, follow-on patented inventions, federal public workforce characteristics, and perception of their work environment. By exploiting the observability of deaths of federal employees, we find that managers' death events negatively affect innovation outcomes: a 1% increase in the share of relevant public officer deaths causes a decline of 32.3% of patents per contract, 20.5% patent citations per contract, and 34.3% patent claims per contract.
Social efficiency of entry: Implications of network externalities
Debasmita Basak and Emmanuel Petrakis
We examine the welfare effects of entry in the presence of network externalities. We show that if network goods are fully incompatible, entry is socially insufficient as long as the entry cost is high, the goods are sufficiently differentiated, and the degree of network externality is low. Further, we show that as the degree of compatibility between the network goods increases, insufficient entry becomes more likely. Our findings provide policy guidelines for anticompetitive and procompetitive entry regulations.
We examine the welfare effects of entry in the presence of network externalities. We show that if network goods are fully incompatible, entry is socially insufficient as long as the entry cost is high, the goods are sufficiently differentiated, and the degree of network externality is low. Further, we show that as the degree of compatibility between the network goods increases, insufficient entry becomes more likely. Our findings provide policy guidelines for anticompetitive and procompetitive entry regulations.
On the precision of information
Samuel C. A. Pereira
This paper explores a model in which the agent's effort affects (solely) the precision (variance) of a performance measure (signal) of the outcome. When moral hazard and adverse selection are considered together, and there is enough uncertainty related to adverse selection, the risk-sharing rule is above the first-best for more efficient types, but below the first-best for less efficient types. Further, the precision of the signal increases with the expected outcome.
This paper explores a model in which the agent's effort affects (solely) the precision (variance) of a performance measure (signal) of the outcome. When moral hazard and adverse selection are considered together, and there is enough uncertainty related to adverse selection, the risk-sharing rule is above the first-best for more efficient types, but below the first-best for less efficient types. Further, the precision of the signal increases with the expected outcome.
Product selection in online marketplaces
Federico Etro
A marketplace such as Amazon hosts many products by third party sellers and acts as a first party or private label retailer. Assuming an advantage of Amazon in logistics and of sellers in marketing, we investigate whether entry by Amazon is excessive from the point of view of consumers.
A marketplace such as Amazon hosts many products by third party sellers and acts as a first party or private label retailer. Assuming an advantage of Amazon in logistics and of sellers in marketing, we investigate whether entry by Amazon is excessive from the point of view of consumers.
Volume 30, 2021 Issue 2 Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Volume 30, 2021 Issue 2 Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
Platform leadership and supply chains: Intel, Centrino, and the restructuring of Wi‐Fi supply
Roberto Fontana and Shane GreensteinIn this paper we examine Intel's launch of Centrino and interpret it as platform leader's attempt to restructure a supply chain. We provide a narrative of key actions and how they coordinated changes and offer a framework of the predictable consequences for complementary markets. We then collect data and test these predictions on outcomes in several related complementary markets.
Dynamic positioning, product innovation, and entry in a vertically differentiated market
David P. BaronTwo firms compete in a market vertically differentiated by the qualities of their products. Each firm produces a single product with profit proportional to product differentiation, and initial product qualities maximize product differentiation. In each period a firm can undertake innovation to increase the quality of its product. Product innovation that widens the quality gap between the firms' products can attract entrants, which can weaken the incentives for innovation.
Entrepreneurial experience and firm exit over the business cycle
Erin McGuireIn this paper, I explore business cycle‐related dynamics in differences in exit decisions between serial and novice entrepreneurs. Using time series geographic variation in economic conditions, I examine how businesses founded by serial and novice entrepreneurs differentially respond to changes on average state personal income, alternative employment options, and home values.
The transfer and value of academic inventions when the TTO is one option
Nicolas Carayol and Valerio SterziAlthough the transfer of professors' inventions is typically performed by an intermediary set up by the university (the technology transfer office), other forms of transfer do coexist in reality. To clarify this situation and its consequences, we develop a model that endogenizes a professor's decision regarding the form of transfer for her invention in which intermediation by the transfer office is only one of two options, the other one being a transfer carried out by the professor herself.
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