In this paper, we examine the sources of the productivity growth in the U.S. computer industry from 1978 to 1999. We estimate a joint production model of output quantity and quality that distinguishes two types of technological changes: process and product innovations. Based on the estimation...

This paper estimates the relative price sensitivity of individuals' choice of whether to buy computers online versus in retail stores using a new data source on the computer purchase behavior of more than 20,000 people. To estimate the degree of competition between the two channels, the paper...

In Silicon Valley's computer cluster, skilled employees are reported to move rapidly between competing firms. If true, this job-hopping facilitates the reallocation of resources towards firms with superior innovations, but it also creates human capital externalities that reduce incentives to...

Early-stage firms utilize venture debt in one-third of financing rounds despite their general lack of cash flow and collateral. In our model, we show how venture debt aligns incentives within a firm. We derive a novel theoretical channel in which runway extension through debt increases firm...

Introduction -- The Silicon Valley Caste System -- Ideologies and Mythologies -- Black Geek Girls: Silicon Valley's 1% -- First-Generation Geek Girls -- Second-Generation Geek Girls -- Transnational Geek Girls: Caste, Class, and Diasporic Capital -- Code-Switchers: Race, Class, and All-Women...

We assess the usefulness of patent statistics as an indicator of innovation, using a direct measure of innovation in the hard disk industry (1976--98). Three findings emerge: (1) Patents "predict" innovations better than a random guess, and a simple refinement makes them more useful; (2)...

Policymakers in several countries have recently taken steps to promote the rapid export expansion of high-tech small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The goal of these policies has been to create successful export-intensive firms, which are often referred to as born globals. To the best of...

The share of foreign-born workers in the U.S. information technology (IT) industry is much higher than their share of the labor force. In fact, foreign-born workers hold more than half the creative IT jobs located in metropolitan areas where IT innovation clusters are located. Nevertheless,...

Early-stage firms utilize venture debt in one-third of financing rounds despite their general lack of cash flow and collateral. In our model, we show how venture debt aligns incentives within a firm. We derive a novel theoretical channel in which runway extension through debt increases firm...

We study the innovation and diffusion of technology at the industry level. We derive the full dynamic paths of an industry's evolution, from birth to its maturity, and we characterize the impact of diffusion on the incentive to innovate. The model implies that protection of innovators should be...

A new Information Aggregation Mechanism (IAM), developed via laboratory experimental methods, is implemented inside Intel Corporation in a long-running field test. The IAM, incorporating features of pari-mutuel betting, is uniquely designed to collect and quantize as probability distributions...

Theories of international trade assume that all countries use similar and exogenous technologies in the production of any good. This paper relaxes this assumption. The marriage of literatures on biased technical change and trade yields a tractable theory, which predicts that differences in...

Introduction: Killing it -- The death of Steve Jobs -- A worldview shaped by the deep South -- Learning the trade at Big Blue -- A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join a near-bankrupt company -- Saving Apple through outsourcing -- Stepping into Steve Jobs's shoes -- Finding his feet with hot...

This is a history of IBM, a huge multinational firm, from its origins in the 1880s to the present. It demonstrates that this supplier of computers, software and information technology services played a profound role in shaping how other large organizations and economies evolved in the twentieth...

How far should an industry be allowed to consolidate when competition and innovation are endogenous? We develop a stochastically alternating-move game of dynamic oligopoly, and estimate it using data from the hard disk drive industry, in which a dozen global players consolidated into only three...

The global Information and Communications Technologies industry has experienced a rapid, radical reorganization of industry leaders and business models — most recently in mobile. New players Apple and Google abruptly redefined the industry, bringing a wave of commoditization to carriers and...

From Enron, WorldCom and Satyam, it appears that corporate accounting fraud is a major problem that is increasing both in its frequency and severity. Research evidence has shown that growing number of frauds have undermined the integrity of financial reports, contributed to substantial economic...

Global Computer Systems (GCS) is a hypothetical multinational company in the IT industry. The company is a major player in the industry catering to clients from a variety of industries. GCS has different segments specializing in major areas of its operation. The case provides an opportunity to...

The impact of patent pools on the rate and direction of technological change is an open question in both theoretical and empirical studies. Economic theory makes no unequivocal prediction. By contrast, empirical studies of patent pools, to date, have largely concluded that patent pools have been...

Growth in U.S. manufacturing’s real value-added has exceeded that of aggregate GDP, except during recessions, leading many to conclude that the sector is healthy and that the 30 percent decline in manufacturing employment since 2000 is largely the consequence of automation. The robust growth...

This paper estimates the production technology of the U.S. computer industry using firm market value to control for the correlation between inputs and unobservable productivity shocks. We show that firm market value can serve as a proxy for unobservable productivity shocks. We also show that...

Field tests of a new Information Aggregation Mechanism (IAM) developed via laboratory experimental methods were implemented inside Intel Corporation for sales forecasting. The IAM, which incorporates selected features of parimutuel betting, is uniquely designed to collect and quantize as...