How does competition in a firm's product market affect the behavior of its stock? We examine this question in a noisy rational expectations economy in which firms operate under monopolistic competition. Production is subject to productivity shocks and requires capital, raised on a perfectly competitive equity market. Investors observe firms' past profits and collect private information about th...

This paper introduces a model of endogenous growth through basic and applied research. Basic research differs from applied research in two significant ways. First, significant advances in technological knowledge come through basic research rather than applied research. Second, these advances are potentially applicable to multiple industries. Since these applications are not immediate, the innov...

We revisit the classic comparison between Bertrand and Cournot outcomes in a mixed market with private and public firms. A departure from the standard setting, i.e., one where all firms maximize profits, provides new insights. A welfare-maximizing public firm’s price is strictly lower while its output is strictly higher in Cournot competition. And whereas the private firm’s quantity is strictly...

In Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy Joseph A. Schumpeter concluded that socialism would eventually displace capitalism in Western democracies. This would come about as a result of the superior performance of capitalism. We extract six ”stylized” propositions that are essential elements of Schumpeter’s prediction about the fate of capitalism. These propositions are confronted with the develop...

We study the effects of physical distance on the acquisition and use of private information in informationally opaque credit markets. Using a unique data set of all loan applications by small firms to a large bank, we show that borrower proximity facilitates the collection of soft information, leading to a trade-off in the availability and pricing of credit, which is more readily accessible to ...

We examine the impact of biases in managerial judgment and in accounting reports on the voluntary disclosure of private managerial information. We show that any biased managerial judgment in interpreting private information that is voluntarily disclosed, and negatively biased accounting (conservatism), reduce voluntary timely disclosure by firms. Only positively biased (less conservative) accou...

This paper addresses the hotly-debated question: do Chinese firms overinvest? A firm-level dataset of 100,000 firms over the period of 2000-07 is employed for this purpose. We initially calculate measures of investment efficiency, which is typically negatively associated with overinvestment. Despite wide disparities across various ownership groups, industries and regions, we find that corporate...