Machines are more expensive in poor countries, and the relation is pronounced. It is hard for a Solow (1956) type of model to explain the relation between machine prices and GDP given that in most countries equipment investment is under 10% of GDP. A stronger relation emerges in a Solow (1959)...

We develop a theoretical framework for comparing incentives, labor productivity and the allocation of effort in public versus private enterprises. We incorporate "socializing", an activity which yields utility for workers and affects a firm's output, into a multitask model of work organization....

A striking characteristic of high-tech products is the rapid decrease of their quality-adjusted prices. Empirical studies show that the rate of decrease of QAPs is typically not constant over time; QAPs decrease rapidly at early stages of the product and then the rate of decrease tapers off....

Recording industry revenue has fallen sharply in the last three years, and some -- but not all -- observers attribute this to file sharing. We collect new data on albums obtained via purchase and downloading, as well as the consumers' valuations of these albums, among a sample of US college...

We present a model of industry evolution where the dynamics are driven by a process of endogenous innovations, followed by subsequent embodiments in physical capital. Traditionally, the only distinction between R&D and physical investment was one of labeling: the first process accumulates an...

New information technology has reduced marginal production and distribution costs of information goods to negligible levels and promises to revolutionize many industries. Unpaid copies of digital products can be as good as paid first-generation copies, and their availability can undermine the...