Corporate Hierarchies and the Size of Nations: Theory and Evidence

Corporate organization varies within a country and across countries with country size. The paper starts by establishing some facts about corporate organization based on unique data of 660 Austrian and German corporations. The larger country (Germany) has larger firms with flatter more decentral corporate hierarchies compared to the smaller country (Austria). Firms in the larger country change their organization less fast than firms in the smaller country. Over time firms have been introducing less hierarchical organizations by delegating power to lower levels of the corporation. We develop a theory which explains these facts and which links these features to the trade environment that countries and firms face. We introduce firms with internal hierarchies in a Krugman (1980) model of trade. We show that international trade and the toughness of competition in international markets induce a power struggle in firms which eventually leads to decentralized corporate hierarchies. We offer econometric evidence which is consistent with the models predictions

The Fear of Exclusion: Individual Effort when Group Formation is Endogenous

To secure their membership in a popular group, individuals may contribute more to the group’s local public good than they would if group formation were exogenous. Those in the most unpopular group do not have this incentive to contribute to their group. Substantial differences in individual efforts levels between groups may be the result. A principal may prefer either exogenous or endogenous group formation, depending on whether an increase in contributions to the local public good coincides with the principal’s interests. We analyze two examples: Social interaction in schools, and multiple-task teamwork

Vertical integration and firm boundaries : the evidence

Since Ronald H. Coase's (1937) seminal paper, a rich set of theories has been developed that deal with firm boundaries in vertical or input–output structures. In the last twenty-five years, empirical evidence that can shed light on those theories also has been accumulating. We review the findings of empirical studies that have addressed two main interrelated questions: First, what types of transactions are best brought within the firm and, second, what are the consequences of vertical integration decisions for economic outcomes such as prices, quantities, investment, and profits. Throughout, we highlight areas of potential cross-fertilization and promising areas for future work

The blind monks and the elephant : contrasting narratives of financial crisis

Three persuasive narratives of the US subprime crisis are explored with reference both to theory and to emergency acts of public policy undertaken. First the role of pecuniary externalities that amplify any shocks to the quality of risk-assets held by Investment Banks and others. Second is adverse selection in marketing these assets; and third the role of financial panic in making investment-banking disaster-prone. How relevant these differing perspectives proved is attested by the nature of state support and by subsequent findings in courts of law. As Chair of the US Federal Reserve, Janet Yellen argued that vulnerabilities within the US financial system in the mid-2000s were “numerous and familiar from past financial panics”. That the varied threats to stability featuring in these narratives should be complements and not substitutes is of more than technical interest: it helps to explain why the US financial system was so exposed to radical failure

JLab Measurement of the 4^4He Charge Form Factor at Large Momentum Transfers

The charge form factor of ^4He has been extracted in the range 29 fm$^{-2}$ $\le Q^2 \le 77$ fm$^{-2}$ from elastic electron scattering, detecting $^4$He nuclei and electrons in coincidence with the High Resolution Spectrometers of the Hall A Facility of Jefferson Lab. The results are in qualitative agreement with realistic meson-nucleon theoretical calculations. The data have uncovered a second diffraction minimum, which was predicted in the $Q^2$ range of this experiment, and rule out conclusively long-standing predictions of dimensional scaling of high-energy amplitudes using quark counting.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Measurement of the 12C(e,e'p)11B Two-Body Breakup Reaction at High Missing Momentum Values

The five-fold differential cross section for the 12C(e,e'p)11B reaction was determined over a missing momentum range of 200-400 MeV/c, in a kinematics regime with Bjorken x > 1 and Q2 = 2.0 (GeV/c)2. A comparison of the results and theoretical models and previous lower missing momentum data is shown. The theoretical calculations agree well with the data up to a missing momentum value of 325 MeV/c and then diverge for larger missing momenta. The extracted distorted momentum distribution is shown to be consistent with previous data and extends the range of available data up to 400 MeV/c.Comment: 12 pages, 1 table and 3 figures for submission to Journal Physics

Search for the Lepton-Number-Violating Decay Ξ−→pμ−μ−\Xi^- \to p \mu^- \mu^-

A sensitive search for the lepton-number-violating decay $\Xi^-\to p \mu^-\mu^-$ has been performed using a sample of $\sim10^9$ $\Xi^-$ hyperons produced in 800 GeV/$c$ $p$-Cu collisions. We obtain $\mathcal{B}(\Xi^-\to p \mu^-\mu^-)< 4.0\times 10^{-8}$ at 90% confidence, improving on the best previous limit by four orders of magnitude.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let

Evidence for the Decay Sigma+ -> p mu+ mu-

We report the first evidence for the decay Sigma+ -> p mu+ mu- from data taken by the HyperCP experiment(E871) at Fermilab. Based on three observed events, the branching ratio is B(Sigma+ -> p,mu+,mu-) = [8.6 +6.6,-5.4(stat) +/-5.5(syst)] x 10**-8. The narrow range of dimuon masses may indicate that the decay proceeds via a neutral intermediate state, Sigma+ -> p P0, P0 -> mu+ mu-, with a P0 mass of 214.3 +/- 0.5 MeV/c**2 and branching ratio B(Sigma+ -> p P0; P0 -> mu+ mu-) = [3.1 +2.4,-1.(stat) +/-1.5(syst)] x 10**-8.Comment: As published in PR