Browsing Category Research

This is a list of research articles.

“Soviet Power Plus Electrification: what is the long-run legacy of communism?”

“Soviet Power Plus Electrification: what is the long-run legacy of communism?” (with Wendy Carlin and Mark Schaffer), available here, accepted for publication in Explorations in Economic History

Abstract

Two decades after the end of central planning, we investigate the extent to which the advantages bequeathed by planning in terms of high investment in physical infrastructure and human capital compensated for the costs in allocative inefficiency and weak incentives for innovation. We assemble and analyse three separate types of evidence. First, we find that countries that were initially relatively poor prior to planning benefited more, as measured by long-run GDP per capita levels, from infrastructure and human capital than they suffered from weak market incentives. For initially relatively rich countries the opposite is true. Second, using various measures of physical stocks of infrastructure and human capital we show that at the end of planning, formerly planned countries had substantially different endowments from their contemporaneous market economy counterparts. However, these differences were much more important for poor than for rich countries. Finally, we use firm-level data to measure the cost of a wide range of constraints on firm performance, and we show that after more than a decade of transition in 2002-05, poor ex-planned economies differ much more from their market counterparts, in respect to both good and bad aspects of the planning legacy, than do relatively rich ones. However, the persistent beneficial legacy effects disappeared under the pressure of strong growth in the formerly planned economies in the run-up to the global financial crisis.

New Research

Find below a list of the research I am currently completing or that has been recently published.

Professional Networks and their Coevolution with Executives’ Careers: Evidence from Europe and the US (with Nicoletta Berardi). Working paper, available here. Figure 1 above, drawn from that paper, shows how executives with larger networks are more likely to move between firms.

“Soviet Power Plus Electrification: what is the long-run legacy of communism?” (with Wendy Carlin and Mark Schaffer). Available here, accepted for publication in Explorations in Economic History

“The Three Musketeers: What Do We Still Need to Know About our Passage through Prehistory?”, Biological Theory, 2012, doi: 10.1007/s13752-012-0017-7 Available at SpringerLink OR [Download PDF of proof copy] [ Download PDF of related article by Sterelny ]

“The Birth of Hierarchy”, in Calcott et al (2013 forthcoming): Cooperation and its Evolution, MIT Press. PDF available here.

“The Old Boy Network: Gender Differences in the Impact of Social Networks on Remuneration in Top Executive Jobs”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 689, octobre 2011 (with Marie Lalanne), revised September 2012.

Working Papers

“The Old Boy Network: Gender Differences in the Impact of Social Networks on Remuneration in Top Executive Jobs”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 689, October 2011, revised September 2012.

(with Marie Lalanne)

[ (Download PDF, 541 Ko) ] See the article in The Economist

“Smiling is a Costly Signal of Cooperation Opportunities: Experimental Evidence from a Trust Game”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 669, avril 2011.

(with Samuele Centorrino, Elodie Djemai, Astrid Hopfensitz and Manfred Milinski)

[ (Download PDF, 261 Ko) ]
“Market Size and Pharmaceutical Innovation”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 670, April 2011.

(with Pierre Dubois, Olivier de Mouzon and Fiona Scott Morton)

[ (Download PDF, 251 Ko) ]

“Professional Network and Career Coevolution”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 688, 2011.

(with Nicoletta Berardi)

[ (Download PDF, 394 Ko) ]

“Property Rights, Warfare and the Neolithic Transition”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 654, November 2010.

(with Robert Rowthorn)

[ (Download PDF, 355 Ko) ]

“The Economics of Passenger Rail Transport: A Survey”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 163, 2003.

(with Marc Ivaldi)

[ (Download PDF, 714 Ko) ]
“The Economics of Tacit Collusion, IDEI Working Paper, no.186, Final Report for DG Competition, European Commission, 2003.

(with Marc Ivaldi, Bruno Jullien, Patrick Rey and Jean Tirole)

[ (Download PDF, 453 Ko) ]
“The Economics of Unilateral Effects”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 222, Report for DG Competition, European Commission, 2003.

(with Marc Ivaldi, Bruno Jullien, Patrick Rey and Jean Tirole)

[ (Download PDF, 537 Ko) ]

“The Activities of a Monopoly Firm in Adjacent Competitive Markets: Economic Consequences and Implications for Competition Policy”, IDEI Working Paper, no. 132, 2001, Revision 2002.

(with Patrick Rey and Jean Tirole)

[ (Download PDF, 141 Ko) ]

Published Journal Articles

“Soviet Power Plus Electrification: what is the long-run legacy of communism?” (with Wendy Carlin and Mark Schaffer). Available here, published in Explorations in Economic History 2012. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.eeh.2012.07.003

“The Three Musketeers: What Do We Still Need to Know About our Passage through Prehistory?”, Biological Theory, 2012, doi: 10.1007/s13752-012-0017-7 Available at SpringerLink OR [Download PDF of proof copy] [Download PDF of related article by Sterelny]

“Do Women have longer Conversations? Telephone Evidence of Gendered Communication Strategies”, Journal of Economic Psychology, December 2010. doi:10.1016/j.joep.2010.12.008. (with Guido Friebel) [ Download PDF ]

“Commentary “Honest Smiles as a Costly Signal in Social Exchange”, Behavioral and Brain Sciences, vol. 33, December 2010, pp. 439. doi:10.1017/S0140525X10001287. (with Samuele Centorrino, Elodie Djemai, Astrid Hopfensitz and Manfred Milinski) [ Download PDF ]

“Private Antitrust Enforcement in the Presence of Pre-Trial Bargaining”, Journal of Industrial Economics, vol. 57, no. 3, September 2009, pp. 372-409. doi:10.1111/j.1467-6451.2009.00383.x. (with Sylvain Bourjade and Patrick Rey) [ Download PDF ]

“Escaping Epidemics Through Migration? Quarantine Measures under Asymmetric Information about Infection Risk”, Journal of Public Economics, vol. 93, nos. 7-8, August 2009, pp. 931-938. doi:10.1016/j.jpubeco.2009.05.001. (with Alice Mesnard) [ Download PDF ]

“Continuous Preferences and Discontinuous Choices : How Altruists Respond to Incentives”, The B. E. Journal of Theoretical Economics (Contributions), vol. 9, no. 1, April 2009. [ Download PDF ]

“Market Entry, Privatisation and Bank Performance in Transition”, Economics of Transition, vol. 14, no. 4, October 2006, pp. 579-610. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0351.2006.00271.x. (with Steven Fries, Damien Neven and Anita Taci) [ Download PDF ]

“Wasteful Public Spending and State Aid Control”, Journal of the European Economic Association, vol. 4, nos. 2-3, May 2006, pp. 513-522. (with Mathias Dewatripont) [ Download PDF, 130 Ko) ]

“Intermediation by Aid Agencies”, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 79, no. 2, April 2006, pp. 469-491. (with Colin Rowat) [ Download PDF ]

“The Evolution of Fairness Norms: An Essay on Ken Binmore’s Natural Justice”, Politics, Philosophy & Economics, vol. 5, no. 1, February 2006, pp. 33-50. [ View abstract ] [ Download PDF ]

“European and National Champions: Burden or Blessing?”, CES-Ifo Bulletin, vol. 6, no. 2, Summer, pp. 52-55.

“A Minimum of Rivalry: Evidence from Transition Countries on the Importance of Competition for Innovation and Growth”, Contributions to Economic Analysis and Policy, vol. 3, no. 1, 2004, pp. 1-42. (with Wendy Carlin and Mark Schaffer) [ Download PDF ]

“Competition, Privatisation and Productive Efficiency: Evidence from the Airline Industry”, The Economic Journal, vol. 111, no. 473, July 2001. (with Charles Ng)

“Understanding ‘the essential fact about capitalism’: markets, competition and creative destruction”, National Institute Economic Review, January 2001. (with Wendy Carlin and Jonathan Haskel)

“Skill versus Judgment and the Architecture of Organisations”, European Economic Review, Elsevier, 2000.

“The Effects and Policy Implications of State Aids to Industry: an Economic Analysis”, Economic Policy, 1999. (with Timothy Besley) [ Download PDF ]

“Accountability and Decentralization in Government: an Incomplete Contracts Model”, European Economic Review, Elsevier, 1996. [ Download PDF ]

“European Industrial Policy: the Airbus Case”, Economic Policy, no. 21, 1995. (with Damien Neven)

“Managing Local Commons: Theoretical Issues in Incentive Design”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 1993. [ Download PDF 6.4MB]

“Quality of Livestock Assets Under Selective Credit Schemes: Evidence from South Indian Data”, Journal of Development Economics, 1991. [ Download PDF ]

“Deregulating European Airlines”, Economic Policy, 1989 (with Francis McGowan)
“Social Choice and Social Theories”, Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1989.

“The Pursuit of Unhappiness”, Ethics, 1988.
“Explaining Cultural Divergence: a Wittgensteinian Paradox”, Journal of Philosophy, 1987, no. 1.
“The Effects of Conflict on the Economy of Northern Sri Lanka”, Economic and Political Weekly, 1986, no.2.

Published Book Chapters

“The Birth of Hierarchy”, in Calcott et al. (edited) Cooperation and its Evolution, MIT Press, forthcoming 2013. [ Download pdf ]

“The Economics of Trade in Football Broadcasting Rights” (with Josepa Miquel-Florensa), in Gali, J. & X. Vives (eds): Football Economics: Proceedings of the Armand Caraben Workshop on Sports Economics, Reports of the Public-Private Research Center 4, IESE, University of Navarra, 2011. [ Download PDF 1.1MB ]

The Hidden Costs of Political Sponsorship of Industrial Firms”, in Falck, O., C. Gollier & L. Woessman (eds): Industrial Policy for National Champions, CESIfo Seminar Series, Cambridge: MIT Press, 2011. [ See the book's homepage ]

Bailing out the banks: Reconciling stability and competition, report to DG-Competition of the European Commission, May 2009 (with Thorsten Beck, Diane Coyle, Xavier Freixas and Mathias Dewatripont), revised and updated version published in February 2010 by Centre for Economic Policy Research. [ Access the report ]

Current Research

To be completed…..

Networks and their influence on the careers of careers of senior executives (with Nicoletta Berardi, Marie Lalanne).

Research initiative on The Digital Society (with Jacques Crémer), details available shortly.

Gender differences in the formation of social networks (several different projects underway, with Anna Dreber-Almenberg, Guido Friebel, Astrid Hopfensitz, Marie Lalanne, Peter Schwardmann, Marie-Clarie Villeval).

A signaling approach to understanding the origins of the statues on Easter Island (with Ricardo Guzman, Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert).

Ideas for Future Research

Coming soon…..

Collaborators and Co-authors

The team on our Haiti project (with me in the photo above):

Emmanuelle Auriol

Diego Delissaint

Maleke Fourati

We are very happy that Pepita Miquel-Florensa has now joined the project and look forward to a new group photo with her too.

Other co-authors:

Marie Lalanne

Pepita Miquel-Florensa

Carlos Rodriguez-Sickert

Other research collaborators:

Sam Bowles

Anna Dreber-Almenberg

Hillard Kaplan

Marie-Claire Villeval

Conferences

I have organized:

The Psychology and Economics of Scarce Attention, Toulouse September 2011

See the conference Website.

Read the conference summary by Diane Coyle: The Invisible Hand meets the Invisible Gorilla.

Workshop on the Use of Expert Economic Evidence in Antitrust Cases, Toulouse March 2011

See the conference website.

I will attend or have attended:

European Economic Association Annual Congress 2012

Human Behavior and Evolution Society 2011

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