This chapter takes stock of what has been learned from the recent micro-development literature about wedges - mechanisms generating dispersion in marginal revenue products of factors across firms, which are commonly interpreted as indicators of misallocation. We present a general theoretical...

We study how variation in the allocation mechanism of public demand shapes firm performance and aggregate productivity. Exploiting the quasi-random implementation of an efficient or lottery-like auction format in the Italian construction sector, we find that when the same amount of public...

Carbon leakage is a major concern in the design of unilateral climate policies aimed at reducing global emissions in a cost-effective manner. In order to assess the cost-effectiveness of anti-leakage measures, it is crucial to understand the fundamental mechanisms that contribute to leakage. We...

The introduction of the new delivery model in the 2023-2027 Common Agricultural Policy increased the decision-making and management autonomy of Member States and their regions when implementing Rural Development policies. Thus, understanding the drivers behind allocation choices for rural...

Production scheduling is critical in manufacturing operations, requiring the optimal assignment of limited resources. This paper introduces a novel generalization of the Unrelated Parallel Machine (UPM) problem, addressing key real-world complexities: sequence- and machine-dependent setup times,...

We study the micro sources and macro consequences of worker–job matching across countries with large income differences. Using internationally comparable data on over 120,000 individuals in 30 countries, we document that workers' skills align more closely with their jobs' skill requirements in...

Many states have capped consumer loan interest rates to protect households from high-cost lenders. Using triple-difference and event study analysis, we investigate how these usury limits affect the availability and allocation of credit across households. Consistent with standard price theory, we...

We consider a package assignment problem with money, in which a set M of objects is allocated to agents. Each agent has preferences that are not necessarily quasi-linear. The admissible set of object allocations is chosen by the planner to pursue specific objectives in conjunction with the rule....

Substantial and persistent differences in learning outcomes between schools largely caused by school segregation is a recurrent issue in many countries and is seen as a threat against equality of opportunity. Compensatory resource allocation policies are sometimes used to mitigate this problem,...

Background: Healthcare systems are increasingly strained by limited operating room resources and rising demand, a situation intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. These pressures have resulted in overcrowded surgical departments, prolonged waiting times for elective procedures, worsened patient...

The productivity growth of the Greek economy has stagnated since the 2010 European Debt Crisis. Despite reforms in product market regulations; their impact on productivity has been mixed. Firm-level data shows that resource misallocation worsened from 2009 to 2020; especially in non-tradable...

Ever since their independence, African countries have engaged in a series of treaties creating 8 Regional Economic Communities (RECs) that were (and still are) to pilot this integration starting with a Free Trade Area (FTA) followed by a customs union, a common market, and a monetary union...

The issue of introducing a vulnerability indicator in an aid allocation formula such as the Performance Based Allocation (PBA) used by several Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) has been discussed for a long time. Three reasons make it particularly desirable to now reconsider the issue.

We study the causal effect of reducing distance-related frictions with headquarters on branch outcomes in multi-unit firms in Brazil. Exploiting the introduction of new airline routes, we compare branches that gain a direct flight to their headquarters with otherwise similar branches in the same...

We study the problem of assigning indivisible objects to agents where each is to receive at most one. To ensure fairness in the absence of monetary transfers, we consider random assignments. Random Priority, also known as Random Serial Dictatorship, is characterized by equal-treatment-of-equals,...