The extent of publishing in predatory journals in economics is examined in this paper. A simple model of researcher behavior is presented to explore those factors motivating an economist or other academic to publish in predatory journals as defined by Beall (2015). Beall’s lists are then...

The extent of publishing in predatory journals in economics is examined in this paper. A simple model of researcher behavior is presented to explore those factors motivating an economist or other academic to publish in predatory journals as defined by Beall (2015). Beall’s lists are used to...

The usual explanations for superstar effects---when a firm’s revenue is positive and convex in quality, and a few firms earn a large share of market revenue---are imperfect substitution between sellers, low marginal cost of output, and marginal cost declining as quality increases. Herein, a...

In an influential article, “Unraveling in Matching Markets,"Li and Rosen (1998) note that the first 7 picks, and 17 among 29 first-round selections, of the 1997 National Basketball Association (NBA) draft were not college seniors. By 2004, the first pick was a high school senior, and 25 of...

Akerlof (2012, 2013) has argued individuals often do not behave according to rational expectations. He shows how buyers in a complete lemon’s market are worse off if they behave irrationally---like loons. We examine several different lemon’s market situations (including when workers may...

More able individuals may over-investment in education when education signals ability. If education directly increases productivity, increasing education cost for the less able may increase welfare by reducing over-investment by the more able, but will not do so if such cost is already either...

The existing superstar model (Rosen, 1981) does not require imperfect substitutes, and the convexity of total earnings with respect to talent is due to greater output for those with more talent. Our model explains why wages would increase at an increasing rate in talent. Imperfect...