This paper uses a unique data set on screenplay sales to learn how the information content of a sales pitch affects sale prices. This is one of the few studies that analyze “soft information” outside the banking industry. We find that “soft information” proxies, such as the descriptive...

A method for calculating the marginal cost of industrial power cuts is developed. Firms are assumed to hedge against outages by acquiring back-up generators. The marginal cost of back-up power enables us to infer the marginal cost of a power cut.

In this paper, we assume that an energy-conserving technological invention has occurred. Given the cost of equipment replacement and future energy prices, the optimal investment time is calculated. Various assumptions about the nature of replacements, their costs, and the equipment available are...

This paper investigates the design of privatization mechanisms in emerging market economies. We identify an emerging market economy by the political constraints that limit the set of viable privatization mechanisms. Our objective is to explain the striking diversity of privatization mechanisms...