Over the past ten years there has been increased recognition of the importance of publicity as a means of generating product awareness. Despite this, previous research has seldom investigated the impact of publicity on demand. We contribute to the literature by (i) proposing a new method for the...

The 1994 Riegle-Neal Act (RN) removed restrictions on branch-network expansion for banks in the United States. An important motivation was to facilitate geographic risk diversification (GRD). Using a factor model to measure banks' geographic risk, we show that RN expanded GRD possibilities in...

This paper develops and estimates a search and bargaining model designed to measure the welfare loss associated with frictions in oligopoly markets with negotiated prices. We use the model to quantify the consumer surplus loss induced by the presence of search frictions in the Canadian mortgage...

This paper develops and estimates a search and bargaining model designed to measure the welfare loss associated with frictions in oligopoly markets with negotiated prices. We use the model to quantify the consumer surplus loss induced by the presence of search frictions in the Canadian mortgage...

We examine the relationship between concentration and price dispersion using variation induced by a merger in the Canadian mortgage market. Since interest rates are determined through a search and negotiation process, consolidation eliminates a potential negotiation partner, weakening consumers...

Using transaction-level data on Canadian mortgage contracts we document an increase in the average discount negotiated off the posted price and in rate dispersion. Our aim is to identify the beneficiaries of discounting and to test whether dispersion is caused by price discrimination. The...

We examine the relationship between concentration and price dispersion using variation induced by a merger in the Canadian mortgage market. Since interest rates are determined through a search and negotiation process, consolidation eliminates a potential negotiation part- ner, weakening...

This paper studies the effect of market structure on the diffusion of e-commerce technologies. These include self-serve electronic check-in/-out kiosks, online retail outlets, online customer-service centers, and e-banking, which reduce costs for firms relative to their old, non-electronic...

We use a panel data set that combines annual brand-level advertising expenditures for over three hundred brands with measures of brand awareness and perceived quality from a large-scale consumer survey to study the effect of advertising. Advertising is modeled as a dynamic investment in a...

We investigate the dominant role of advertising - whether it provides information or changes consumers' brand perceptions - for a wide range of product categories. For the empirical analysis, we assembled a panel data set that combines annual brand-level advertising expenditures for over three...