Law and Innovation: Evidence from State Trade Secrets Laws

10.1162/REST_a_00532REVIEW OF ECONOMICS AND STATISTICS991167-17

Secrecy and Patents: Theory and Evidence from the Uniform Trade Secrets Act

10.1287/stsc.2017.0035Strategy Science23176-19

Automation Enables Specialization: Field Evidence

10.1287/mnsc.2023.4760MANAGEMENT SCIENC

WHY ARE SOME PRODUCTS BRANDED AND OTHERS NOT

Why do some consumers pay a premium for branded products? According to the consumer information theory, brands signal the quality of experience goods (products whose quality cannot be determined on inspection) to consumers for whom, personal search and testing is relatively costly. We find that the product and customer mix in a sample of branded and unbranded service stations is generally consistent with the theory. Branded dealers are more likely to carry products for which cheating on quality is an issue and to serve customers for whom personal search and testing is relatively costly

CORRUPTIBLE LAW ENFORCERS - HOW SHOULD THEY BE COMPENSATED

We study the optimal compensation policy for a corruptible inspector, charged with monitoring pollution from a factory. Our utilitarian approach focuses on the trade-off among corruption, pollution, and enforcement effort. Owing to the strategic interaction between factory and inspector, changes in compensation policy have surprising effects, e.g., raising the penalty for corruption may cause pollution to increase. We find that bribery is an inefficient way of encouraging the inspector to monitor; society should wipe out corruption

SERVICE TIME COMPETITION

How can two physically identical gasoline stations differentiate themselves? In this article we develop and test a model of service time competition: some stations set higher prices and thereby offer shorter queues, whereas other offer lower price and longer queues. We find that retail demand is sensitive to service time: customers are, on average, willing to pay about 1\% more for a 6\% reduction in congestion. Consistent with the service time hypothesis, prices are more dispersed at stations facing more direct competition

Copyright law and the supply of creative work: Evidence from the movies

Comparative Law and Economics407-44