This paper provides new insight into the relationship between inflation and consumer price setting by examining a large data set of Mexican consumer prices covering episodes of both low and high inflation, as well as the transition between the two. Overall, the economy shares several characteristics with time-dependent models when the annual inflation rate is low (below 10-15%), while displayin...

This study investigates the relationship between consumer search costs, inflation, and firm markups in retail trade by employing actual measures of consumer search cost gathered by way of an online consumer survey. Consistent with theory, results indicate that markups can be higher if consumer search costs are higher. Results from panel data also show that increases in inflation lead to increas...

A large fraction of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome codes for proteins of unknown function. We here report the structure of one of these proteins, Rv0130, solved to a resolution of 1.8 å. The Rv0130 monomer features a single hotdog fold composed of a highly curved beta-sheet on top of a long and a short alpha-helix. Two monomers in turn pack to form a double-hotdog-folded homodimer, simil...

The price system, the adjustment of prices to changes in market conditions, is the primary mechanism by which markets function and by which the three most basic questions get answered: what to produce, how much to produce and for whom to produce. To the behaviour of price and price system, therefore, have fundamental implications for many key issues in microeconomics and industrial organization...

We develop a tractable model of competition among motivated MFIs. We find that equilibria may or may not involve double-dipping (and consequently default), with there being double-dipping whenever the MFIs are very profit-oriented. Moreover, in an equilibrium with double-dipping, borrowers who double-dip are actually worse off compared to those who do not. Further, for intermediate levels of mo...

This paper studies a unique panel dataset of transactions with repeat customers of an insurer operating in a market in which insurers are not required by law or contract to share information about their customers’ records. I use this dataset to test the asymmetric learning hypothesis that sellers obtain over time private information that some of their repeat customers have low risk, and that th...

BACKGROUND Recently, an interest has developed in understanding the anatomy of the posterior and posterolateral knee. The posterolateral compartment of the knee corresponds to a complex arrangement of ligaments and myotendinous structures. Undiagnosed lesions in this compartment are the main reason for failure of the anterior and posterior cruciate ligament reconstructions. Understanding the an...

The findings of the TIMSS Videotape Classroom Study include aspects of mathematics lessons showing a strong resemblance between Germany and the U.S. in difference to Japan. This paper discusses some of the features that appear to make Japanese lessons different from the other two countries. In particular, the paper examines the goals of lessons described by Japanese teachers, how lessons are st...

Traders with speci c characteristics operating in a pairwise exchange market may prefer to meet other traders with similar (or complementary) characteristics, while other categories of traders may not have such preferences. The existence of the second type imposes a negative externality on the rst. Under conditions which are not very restrictive, establishing a trading oor designated for the fo...

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t JEL classification: C72 C79 D40 D43 D44 Keywords: Algorithmic mechanism design Worst case scenario equilibrium analysis Frugality Minimum cost spanning tree problem Price of imperfect competition A buyer procures a network to span a given set of nodes; each seller bids to supply certain edges, then the buyer purchases a minimal cost spanning tree. An effici...