Migration under uncertainty about quality of locations.

"This paper develops a search-theoretic framework for analyzing migration decisions of workers who can only observe the quality of a location by migrating to the location after accepting a job there. After learning the location quality, the worker can stay at the current job, search locally at the same location, or search for a job at another location (leading to repeat migration). This paper develops the properties of optimal search, migration, and repeat migration decisions, and finds how revealed location quality influences the tradeoffs between local search and repeat migration. The effects of search costs and better job opportunities on the reservation levels of wages and revealed quality levels are also determined."     

The dynamics of industrial concentration in Australian manufacturing

A dynamic model of concentration is developed, with incomplete and industry-specific adjustment to deviations of concentration from its steady state. Cross-sectional analysis is carried out against a sample of 102 Australian manufacturing industries at the Australian Standard Industrial Classification (ASIC) four-digit level over the period 1977/78–1984/85. The estimated adjustment is faster than found in studies of the more mature industrial economies and this adjustment is found to significantly increase with reductions in tariff protection. There is also empirical support for John Sutton's argument that the relationship between concentration and market size depends on whether set-up costs are exogenous.     

On export rivalry and the greening of agriculture–the role of eco-labels

Why do some countries have eco-labelling programs and others do not? In this paper, we provide both theoretical arguments and empirical evidence suggesting that the answer to this question can shed new light on three questions that have taken center-stage in the trade and environment debate: (i) does trade exacerbate the exploitation of the environment; (ii) are countries competing in export markets engaged in a race to the bottom in environmental performance; and (iii) do market-based environmental instruments benefit the rich and hurt the poor?     

On the Adoption of Genetically Modified Seeds in Developing Countries and the Optimal Types of Government Intervention

Given the proprietary nature of most genetically modified (GM) seed technologies, the question arises as to how farmers in developing countries can gain proper access. Based on empirical observations, a theoretical model is developed, focusing on farmers' adoption decisions in response to pricing strategies of a foreign monopolist and a domestic supplier of conventional seeds. Government interventions, such as seed subsidies, encouragement of R&D, and intellectual property rights (IPR) enforcement, and their effects on GM coverage and national welfare are analyzed. The possibility of the government obtaining a license to distribute GM seeds domestically through a transfer to the monopolist is also considered.     

The relationship between the marketing mix and share of category requirements

A criticism of purchase-based brand loyalty measures is that they are confounded by the marketing mix variables that affect brand choice. This paper investigates the magnitude and direction of the associations for share of category requirements (SCR), defined as each brand's share among the group of households who bought the brand at least once during the time period under consideration. We discuss the theoretical foundations for the relationships between SCR and a set of marketing mix variables (price, promotions, retail distribution) and conduct a latent structure regression analysis of brand-level data to test these relationships. We find that, although the relationship between the marketing mix variables and SCR is statistically significant, in real terms the magnitude of the association is fairly low.