Dramatic changes have occurred in the U.S. payment system over the past two decades, most notably an explosion in electronic card-based payments. Not surprisingly, this shift has been accompanied by a series of policy debates, all of which hinge critically on understanding consumer behavior at...

Debit card use at the point of sale has grown dramatically in recent years in the U.S., and now exceeds the number of credit card transactions. However, many questions remain regarding patterns of debit card use, consumer preferences when using debit, and how consumers might respond to explicit...

This paper estimates a structural model of demand for the personal computer (PC) by repeat purchasers. Taking advantage of a large dataset on household-level PC purchases, the econometric model uses variation in PC holdings among PC owners to identify households' marginal values of quality...

This paper develops a model of the interplay between corporate leverage and product differentiation strategy. Leverage improves managerial discipline, but it can also raise customer concerns about a vendor's long-term viability. We argue that customer concerns about firm viability will be...

We develop a quot;passive learningquot; model of firm entry by spin-off: firm employees leave their employer and create a new firm when (a) they learn they are good entrepreneurs (type I spin-offs) or (b) they learn their employer's prospects are bad (type II spin-offs). Our theory predicts a...

Through a stroke of luck, a referee report in the review process at the JPE has been positively identified as the Oberholzer-Gee/Strumpf (O/S) response to my earlier comment. Regardless of the response's provenance, what counts is whether it solidly refuted my comment. This 'sequel' analyzes the...

Using a sample of patents litigated between 1977 and 1997, I estimate stock market reactions to patent litigation decisions and to patent grants. I find that the resolution of uncertainty over validity and infringement is worth as much to the firm as the initial patent right. Each is worth about...

We analyze the impact of a Web-based trading channel on the trading activity in two corporate 401(k) plans. Using detailed data on about 100,000 participants, we compare trading growth in these firms to growth for a sample of firms without a Web channel. After 18 months of access, the inferred...

The focus of the paper was to conduct an analysis of the selected qualitative and quantitative aspects of the labour market and the potential ability of the young generation to adapt to the new conditions of their prospective employment. The primary data were obtained in the form of a...

To the uninitiated, transaction costs are often mysterious at best and dubious at worst. Even among economists who use the term often, there are misunderstandings as to what transaction costs actually are. I argue that much of the transaction cost "image" is caused by the lack of a workable...