Using a large sample of diversified firms from 38 countries we investigate the influence of several national-level institutional factors or ‘institutional voids’ on the value of corporate diversification. Specifically, we explore whether the presence of frictions in a country’s capital markets, labor markets, and product markets, affect the excess value of diversified firms. We find that the va...

We thank reviewers from the Committee on Population at the National Academy of Sciences for useful comments. We also thank Vijaya Ramachandran for excellent research assistance and for especially helpful discussions and suggestions. The research reported here is part of the NBER's research program in Labor Studies. Any opinions expressed are those of the authors and not those of the National Bu...

Visionaries conjecture that the world is becoming a level (“flat”) playing field due to the Internet that connects professional workers with employers anywhere around the world. To examine this “flat world” conjecture for global online labor markets for software development services, we analytically model and empirically examine the key factors that affect the dual aspects pricing of profession...