Improvements in the software that provides hardware management, user interface and platform functions have played a central role in the growth and transformation of the personal computer (PC) industry. Several forces shape the design of these 'operating system' products and propel their...

We analyze entry, pricing, and product design in a model with differentiated products. Market equilibrium can be "separating," with multiple sellers and a sorting of heterogeneous consumers across goods, or "exclusionary," with one seller serving all customer types. Entry into an initially...

This paper presents new estimates of the benets of equal education opportunity for blacks over the period 1820-2000. For the better part of US history, blacks have enjoyed less access to schooling for their children than whites. This paper attempts to quantify the value of this discrimination....

<DIV>In 1998, health expenditures in the United States accounted for 12.9% of national income-the highest share of income devoted to health in the developed world. The United States also spends more on medical research than any other country-in 2000, the federal government dedicated $18.4 billion to...</div>

We present new data on the fertility of blacks, 1820 to 2000, and whites, 1800 to 2000, by state. We present new data on schooling by race and cohort from 1840 to 2000. We present data on mortality for whites, 1800 to 2000, and blacks, 1820 to 2000, by state. The data indicate convergence in all...

This paper explores Rosenstein-Rodan's idea that simultaneous industrialization of many sectors of the economy can be profitable for them all even when no sector can break even industrializing alone. We analyze this idea in the context of an imperfectly competitive economy with aggregate demand...

We compare "real business cycle" and increasing returns models of economic fluctuations. In these models, business cycles are driven by productivity changes resulting either from technology shocks or from crucial building blocks that give both types of models hope of fitting the data. These...