Using data from US labour market areas, we quantify empirical associations between entry by small firms and a vector of economic performance measures encompassing levels, volatilities and growth rates of several income and employment variables. Distinct and robust associations are found for net...

Previous work has shown that, when firms choose only partial compliance with a regulatory standard, tightening the standard may drive firms' behavior in the wrong direction. This note explores the potential of nonlinear penalty functions to move behavior in the socially desired direction when...

When contestability constrains the profits of a natural monopoly to zero, consumers can benefit from a two-part tariff. In this case, a uniform price schedule would be both Pareto dominated and unsustainable. Copyright 1987 by The Review of Economic Studies Limited.

In a sample of more than 2000 U.S. counties, smaller average establishment size is generally associated with faster subsequent growth rates of sectoral employment, both within and across sectors. The estimated effects are large in magnitude and thus economically important, and are consistent...