We show how vicious circles in countries' credit histories arise in a model where output persistence is coupled with asymmetric information about output shocks. In such an environment, default signals the borrower's vulnerability to adverse shocks and creates a pessimistic growth outlook. This...

It is often claimed that e-commerce has created a more competitive environment by encouraging the entry of new online firms and by enabling buyers to search easily for the lowest prices. The limited evidence that exists paints a mixed picture. Many online markets are advertising- and...

There is overwhelming evidence that emotions are a significant determinant of consumer behavior. A customer may get angry if he feels that he is being treated unfairly by his supplier and that may make him more likely to switch to an alternative provider. We model the strategic interaction...

This paper studies industrial concentration in Indian manufacturing sectors over the period 1970 to 1999. Given that Indian industry was highly regulated till the mid-1980s, the market structure in most manufacturing sectors was largely shaped by government policy. Deregulation after 1985...

We show that cross-country differences in the underlying volatility and persistence of macroeconomic shocks help explain two historical regularities in sovereign borrowing: the existence of ""vicious"" circles of borrowing-and-default (""default traps""), as well as the fact that recalcitrant...

A striking feature of sovereign lending is that many countries with moderate debt-to-income ratios systematically face higher spreads and more stringent borrowing constraints than others with far higher debt ratios. Earlier research has rationalized the phenomenon in terms of sovereign...

We consider a productive network formed by agents with heterogeneous privately-known productivity types. Under convex cost of link formation, bilateral links create endogenous externalities. We calculate the "rearrangement cost" imposed on the entire network by each subset of other agents an...

A symmetric finite-player war of attrition is studied in discrete time using the notion of Markov perfect equilibria. Considering the limit of the discrete time model as the decision interval becomes arbitrarily small allows a simple characterization of the mixed strategy equilibrium.This is a...

The diffusion of a new product, whose price is expected to fall progressively, is modelled as a sequence of Wars of Attrition. The likely pattern of diffusion is found to be reasonably consistent with the empirically observed S-shape

This paper explores the link between anticipated information and a preference for liquidity in investment choices. Given a subjective ordering of investment portfolios by their liquidity, we identify a sufficient condition under which the prospect of finer resolution of uncertainty creates a...