Since Akerlof’s theory of lemons, economists have viewed quality uncertainty as an informational advantage for sellers. Drawing on frontier techniques, we propose in this paper a simple method for measuring inefficiency of both sellers and buyers in markets for goods with different levels of...

Drawing on data from an annual French guidebook published in 2004, this article focuses on the determinants of experts’ ratings on Cuban cigars. We find that high quality cigars are more likely to be recommended to more experienced cigar lovers. Both the self-assessed quality and...

In this paper, we study the smoking behavior of students aged from 18 to 25 using four cross-section data sets collected in France from 1997 to 2006. We focus on the role played by student income and parental resources. We find that both the probability of smoking and the number of cigarettes...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of self-assessed health on retirement plans of older migrants living in France. As immigration is primarily associated with labor considerations, the role of economic incentives in the migration decision suggests that health...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the relevance of the glass ceiling effect, according to which the gender log wage gap accelerates in the upper tail of the wage distribution, at the firm level. Design/methodology/approach – The empirical analysis is based on a sample of 4,654...

This paper investigates spatial variations in product prices using an exhaustive micro dataset on fish transactions. The data record all transactions between vessels and wholesalers that occur on local fish markets in France during the year 2007. Spatial disparities in fish prices are sizable,...

This paper investigates the effect of the sibship composition, both number of siblings and birth order, on educational levels in France. The Actifs Financiers and Patrimoine surveys are used to construct matched samples with information on education of parents and their various children. The...