We develop a model to study the implications of a legal environment on software development and international trade. We show that the degree of contract enforcement a®ects the organizational mode (i.e., in-house or outsourcing) of customized software development. In autarky, a country with weak copyright protection develops customized software only, while a country with strong copyright protect...

Examining two different changes in retail format, we show that consumers alter their purchase behavior when the retail context changes. In both settings, the change in purchasing behavior is consistent with the effect being driven by an interpersonal interaction between the consumer and the retail clerk. We therefore model the change in format as a “social friction” in which consumers may not p...

The authors examine racial and ethnic differences in computer ownership and Internet usage using data from a survey conducted by the Nomura Research Institute in 2000. They focus on on-line shopping because few studies have examined racial and ethnic differences in e-commerce. The results indicate that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to own or use a computer than are non-Hispanic whites bu...

We examine how the adoption of information communication technology affects bilateral trade. The context is a public program in Norway that rolled out broadband access points leading to plausibly exogenous variation availability and by firms. find makes trade patterns more sensitive distance economic size. These results are consistent with model variable elasticity demand. predicts lowers frict...

The large and growing industry of price comparison websites (PCWs) or ‘web aggregators’ is poised to benefit consumers by increasing competitive pricing pressure on firms acquainting shoppers with more prices. However, these sites also charge for sales, which feeds back raise I investigate the impact introducing PCWs a market homogeneous good. find that single PCW increases prices all consumers...

[PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , January 1, 2008; 294 (1): L79-L86. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol Alice A. Tomei, Melanie M. Choe and Melody A. Swartz Effects of dynamic compression on lentiviral transduction in an in vitro airway wall model [PDF] [Full Text] [Abstract] , August 17, 2009; 41 (3): 297-304. AJRCMB Panettieri, Jr. and Steven C. George Nikita K. Malavia, Christopher B. Raub,...

This essay analyzes the long-term lessons of the recent upturn and downturn in the telecommunications industry. It concludes that volatility and cyclicality will be an inherent part of the telecom sector in the future. To deal with such instabilities, companies and investors seek consolidation and cooperation. Government, too, is likely to stress stability more than before. Hence, an oligopoly ...

We use individual and aggregate data to ask how the Internet is changing the ideological segregation of the American electorate. Focusing on online news consumption, offline news consumption, and face-to-face social interactions, we define ideological segregation in each domain using standard indices from the literatureonracial segregation. Wefindthat ideological segregationofonlinenews consump...

Seller reputation generated by consumers leaving feedback is critical to foster trust in online marketplaces. Yet feedback may be under-provided if consumers are not rewarded to leave feedback. Signaling theory predicts that only high quality sellers would reward buyers for truthful feedback. We explore this scope for signaling using Taobao’s “reward-for-feedback” mechanism and find that items ...

We recently presented a methodology to quantitatively reduce the average time and variance in the time required to execute electronic transactions in a network environment such as the Internet. In the language of portfolio theory, time to complete a transaction and its variance replace the expected return and risk associated with a security, whereas restart times replace combinations of securit...