Cultural evolution is a long-term endogenous process which is revealed in society's cultural traits and it is embodied in institutional characteristics (property rights protection, rule of law, etc.) and transaction characteristics (risk levels, time required for start-ups, corruption levels,...

We study relational contracts as a means to govern transactions across firm boundaries. We focus on the airline industry, where real-time adaptation of flight schedules under bad weather is not formally contractible, and yet is essential for performance and long-term profitability. While...

Costs to switching suppliers can affect prices by discouraging buyer movements from high to low cost sellers. This paper uses confidential U.S. Customs data on U.S. importers and their Chinese exporters to investigate these costs. I find considerable barriers to supply chain adjustments: 45% of...