Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Synergies And Competition: Export Survival In Africa And Latin America, Luisa Blanco, Jesse Mora, Michael Olabisi, James E. Prieger

All Faculty Open Access Publications

Using firm-level export data from six African (Burkina Faso and Senegal) and Latin American (Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay) countries, we examine factors that determine the survival of export flows. We explore the effects on export survival of changes in the number of home-country exporters serving the same destination, firm-level export diversification, and country-level factors. Unlike previous studies, we find that export survival rates decrease with the number of co-exporters selling the same product to the same country. We also find that the relationship between firm-level product diversification and export flow survival is hump-shaped: firms that do not diversify or …

The Impact Of Research And Development On Economic Growth And Productivity In The U.S. States, Luisa Blanco, Ji Gu, James E. Prieger

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Research and development (R&D) has a large effect on both state output and total factor productivity (TFP) in the long run. Our estimates for the private sector of the U.S. states from 1963 to 2007 show that the R&D elasticity averages 0.056 to 0.143. The implied returns to state Gross Domestic Output (GDP) from R&D spending are 82% to 211%. There are also positive R&D spillovers, with 70% to 80% of the total returns accruing to other states. We also find that states with more human capital have higher own- and other-R&D elasticities, and those in lowest tier of economic …

Economic Growth And The Optimal Level Of Entrepreneurship, James E. Prieger, Catherine Bampoky, Luisa R. Blanco, Aolong Liu

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Using data from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM), we examine data from developed and developing countries to estimate the ‘‘growth penalty” over 2003–11 when a country’s entrepreneurship deviates from its optimal level. We account for heterogeneity among countries in the optimal entrepreneurship rate, in the growth penalty from deviating from that optimum, and in other factors affecting growth. Notwithstanding that developing countries have more of their population running nascent small firms than in developed countries, a marginal increase in the entrepreneurship rate in developing countries has a positive effect on growth. On the contrary, in developed countries, there is no …

Unintended Consequences Of Cigarette Prohibition, Regulation, And Taxation, Jonathan D. Kulick, James E. Prieger, Mark A. R. Kleiman

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Laws that prohibit, regulate, or tax cigarettes can generate illicit markets for tobacco products. Illicit markets both reduce the efficacy of policies intended to improve public health and create harms of their own. Enforcement can reduce evasion but creates additional harms, including incarceration and violence. There is strong evidence that more enforcement in illicit drug markets can spur violence. The presence of licit substitutes, such as electronic cigarettes, has the potential to greatly reduce the size of illicit markets.

We present a model demonstrating why enforcement can increase revenues in the illicit market, show that states with higher tobacco taxes …

Multimarket Contact And Strategic Entry Decisions, James E. Prieger

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This work examines the relationship between multimarket contact (MMC) and entry in the US broadband service industry. I examine unique data on entry into ADSL broadband over the years 2005-2008 in the US. Results indicate that MMC increases the probability of entry into local broadband markets by incumbent local telephone companies, which is consistent with the firms’ expectations that competition will be softer in such markets. Thus, the evidence is consistent with the notion that MMC facilitates mutual forbearance. A deeper investigation uncovers evidence consistent with firms using MMC to help build “spheres of influence” to limit competition. Evidence for …