This paper studies the operation of trans-Atlantic passenger shipping cartels during the period 1899-1911 and its effects on passenger traffic. We systematically document and categorize cartel agreements on the basis of key aspects of internal organization. Then, we exploit the variation in...

We analyze the effect of product quality on the output of a high-quality dominant firm facing a low-quality competitive fringe. We show that profit maximizing output decreases with product quality when the dominant firm's marginal cost is lower than that of the fringe, is independent of quality...

This article extends antitrust analysis to two-sided markets in which a virtual monopolist competes with local bricks-and-mortar dealers. The discussion examines the market power of an Internet market maker as well as an Internet matchmaker. The analysis shows that equilibrium in a two-sided...

We consider a high-quality dominant firm facing a low-quality competitive fringe. We show that the effect of an increase in the dominant firm's product quality on its equilibrium quantity depends on its marginal cost relative to that of the fringe firms. The dominant firm's output increases in...

We study an auction with two distinct type of potential bidders: consumers who wish to purchase the item for their own consumption and middlemen who wish to purchase the item for the purpose of reselling it to the final consumers. Typically, the behavior of the former is studied under the...

This paper investigates the effect of toxic-releasing facilities’ relocation on the distribution of pollution incidence across communities depending on their socio-economic characteristics. Applying synthetic control estimation to toxic emissions data of 12,823 facilities from 1990 to 2011, we...

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has steadily grown in importance. We show government regulation on corporate reporting of CSR, aimed to spur its growth and increase transparency of its extent at the firm level, has grown in tandem. Such reporting regulation more readily observable than CSR...

This paper investigates bidding patterns in sequential auctions using data from a sale of rare books by a non-profit institution. The data has features of a field experiment: Lots were arranged in alphabetical order and the reserve was set non-strategically. Further, half the bids were placed by...

Members of a bidding ring often use a private sale among themselves, known as the knockout, to decide who will buy the object that the ring has secured. The difference between the price realized in this private sale and the price paid by the ring in the public auction is divided, on the basis of...