This paper provides a first pass at clarifying the economic tradeoffs between two polar strategies for market intermediation: the merchant mode, in which the intermediary buys from sellers and resells to buyers; and the two-sided platform mode, under which the intermediary enables affiliated...

Economists have debated the extent to which strengthening patent protection spurs or detracts from technological innovation. This paper examines the reduction of software copyright protection in the Lotus v. Borland decision. If patent and copyright protections are substitutes, weakening of one...

Designs are the instructions that turn knowledge into things that people value and are willing to pay for. In human cultures, almost all value inheres in designs. Designs in turn span the whole universe of human artifacts and activities. Tangible products and their production processes,...

This paper evaluates the impact of capital controls and their liberalization on the activities of U.S. multinational firms. These firms attempt to circumvent capital controls by reducing reported local profitability and increasing the frequency of dividend repatriations. As a result, the...

In this paper we provide a new definition of leadership that gives organizations and individuals access to new power. In our model, leadership consists of four critical elements: -- The creation of a vision for the future that represents a significant departure from the past, one that requires...

Commencement Address given to the University of Toronto, June 15, 2005. In this talk I enumerate and briefly discuss eleven commitments that form the foundations of an extraordinary life and of leadership. They range from a commitment to a never-ending search for truth, a willingness to delay...

In this paper we provide a new definition of leadership that gives organizations and individuals access to new power, performance and accomplishment. In our model leadership consists of four critical elements: -- The creation of a vision for the future that represents a significant departure...

This paper seeks to better understand the competitive behavior of firms in standard-setting organizations by examining two case studies. We examine the development of mobile Internet standards by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); and the development of DSL standards....

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by comparing the purchases online grocery customers make when redeeming $10-off coupons with the purchases they make without coupons. Controlling for customer fixed effects and other variables, we find that grocery spending...

We report on a field study demonstrating systematic differences between the preferences people anticipate they will have over a series of options in the future and their subsequent revealed preferences over those options. Using a novel panel data set, we analyze the film rental and return...