U.S. investors abroad receive a higher return on their assets than their counterparts that invest in the United States. I examine the degree to which excluding intangible assets and repatriation taxes from the international transactions accounts can account for this gap. Using a growth...

The wave of privatization in the 1980s and 1990s increased productivity of many previously state owned enterprises (SOEs). However, governments often do not have sufficient support to privatize SOEs. We provide evidence that threatening privatization and market competition (entry of new firms)...

Manufacturing and vertical specialization (VS) trade, trade in goods that incorporate imported inputs, have grown rapidly since the 1960s. I argue that declining trade costs are an important explanation for these facts. I present a three stage vertical specialization trade model, with raw...

We study the U.S. sugar manufacturing cartel that was created during the New Deal. This was a legal-cartel that lasted 40 years (1934-74). As a legal-cartel, the industry was assured widespread adherence to domestic and import sales quotas (given it had access to government enforcement powers)....

We analyze quarterly data on light vehicle sales and buyer income to show that both prices and the income of buyers fall over the model year. The result is relevant to determining the rate of quality improvement of goods.

reduces a similar gap in British FDI returns by nearly half.

competitiveness.

Beginning in the early 1900s, Puerto Rican sugar has entered the U.S. mainland tariff free. Given this new status, the Puerto Rican sugar industry grew dramatically, soon far outstripping Louisiana’s production. Then, in the middle 1960s, something amazing happened. Production collapsed....