Search Results
Journal Article
\\"We control the vertical\\": three theories of the firm
The author discusses three broad approaches to vertical integration. He then uses each approach, in turn, to examine the pros and cons of a firm's decision to integrate forward.
Working Paper
Wage rigidity: a look inside the firm
This paper tests for nominal salary rigidity using panel data from two large service-sector firms. Distributions of the firms' salary changes exhibit nominal rigidity: few nominal pay cuts, a pile-up of observations at zero, and positive skewness and asymmetry. In addition, these characteristics become more pronounced in periods of low inflation. These results are much stronger than those found in the previous literature. Further analysis shows that the sizable measurement error in the PSID and the fact that establishment surveys typically follow average wages within jobs may bias the results ...
Journal Article
Evidence on entrepreneurs in the United States: data from the 1989–2004 survey of consumer finances
Using data from the Federal Reserve Board?s Survey of Consumer Finances, the authors examine characteristics of entrepreneurs and the businesses they run. Their analysis confirms that business owners are important sources of saving and wealth creation in the U.S. and that they are less risk averse than other wealthy households. This discounts the notion that the wealth of entrepreneurs disproportionately reflects a buildup of precautionary balances to guard against financial risk.
Journal Article
Reservists deployed : businesses hold own - fill voids
Journal Article
News flash: Small-market papers prosper
In small cities and towns in the district, the demise of newspapers has been greatly exaggerated.
Journal Article
The cost of capital for securities firms in the United States and Japan
The authors use stock market valuations to construct estimates of the cost of capital for five U.S. and four Japanese securities firms in 1982-91. They seek explanations for the observed capital cost differences in macroeconomic, risk, policy, and industrial organization factors. Their analysis also contrasts the gap in capital costs between U.S. and Japanese securities firms with the corresponding gap for industrial firms and banks.
Journal Article
Underappreciated value: the inner city's competitive edge
Working Paper
If you try, you’ll get by: Chinese private firms’ efficiency gains from overcoming financial constraints
It appears to be common knowledge that external financing in China is mostly limited to state-owned firms and is hard to obtain for smaller private firms. In this paper we first confirm this pattern for more recent data and then investigate ways in which private firms overcome their financing constraints. We find that private firms reduce their need for external funds through more efficient management of inventory levels and accounts receivable. We further show that the low levels of inventories and accounts receivable in Chinese private firms are not below efficient levels and are unlikely ...
Report
The firm and the plant in general equilibrium theory
The general equilibrium formulations are developed for two important economic environments. The first environment is the Lucas managerial span-of-control theory of the firm. It is shown that, in the spirit of McKenzie, the aggregate production set can be characterized by a convex cone. The second environment permits both the number of hours plants are operated and the number of workers operating them to be varied. For empirically reasonable elasticities of substitution, equilibrium is characterized by employment-consumption lotteries.