We analyze the role of risk-sharing institutions in transitions to modern economies.Transitions requires individual-level risk-taking in pursuing productivity-enhancing activitiesincluding using and developing new knowledge. Individual-level, idiosyncratic risk implies thatdistinct risk-sharing...

In this paper we study the joint decision process of changing the structure of jobs and layingoff individual workers in a firm that downsizes its workforce. A hierarchical decision model isproposed and estimated using personnel data from a firm in demise comparing thecharacteristics of the...

We use unique plant-level data to study the link between the local availability of services andthe decision of manufacturing firms to source materials from abroad. To guide our empiricalanalysis we develop a monopolistic-competition model of the materials sourcing decisions ofheterogeneous...

We present a dynamic model where the probability of outsourcing production is increasing inthe firm’s expectation of technological change. As the pace of innovations in productiontechnologies increases, the less time the firm has to amortize the sunk costs associated withpurchasing and...

Firms in Kenya rely on technologies such as computers, cell-phones, and generators toovercome constraints associated with regulations, infrastructure, security, workforce,corruption, and finance. This study shows that such reliance has significant positive impactson productivity as measured by...

Innovation is key to technology adoption and creation, and to explaining the vast differencesin productivity across and within countries. Despite the central role of the entrepreneur in theinnovation process, data limitations have restricted standard analysis of the determinants ofinnovation to...