Endogenous Vertical Differentiation, Variety, and the Unequal Gains from Trade

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-45
Author(s):  
Gunnar Heins
Keyword(s):  
Vertical Differentiation ◽  
Demand Estimation ◽  
Random Coefficients ◽  
Gains From Trade ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
Endogenous Quality ◽  
Structural Framework ◽  
Price Indexes ◽  
The Impact

Abstract How unequal are the gains from trade? This paper develops a structural framework to quantify the consequences of international trade on welfare of consumers across the income distribution, allowing for non-homothetic demand and endogenous quality choices by firms. Using random coefficients demand estimation techniques, I infer demand and supply parameters, as well as household-specific price indexes for more than 3,000 distinct industries and find the gains from trade to be moderately unequal except in wealthier and small economies. Further, not accounting for endogenous vertical differentiation would overstate the impact of trade on cost-of-living inequality by close to 50%.

Product Innovation and Price Measurement

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Stoneman ◽  
Eleonora Bartoloni ◽  
Maurizio Baussola
Keyword(s):  
Product Innovation ◽  
Common Knowledge ◽  
Consumer Price Index ◽  
The United States ◽  
Electronic Products ◽  
Quality Adjustment ◽  
Price Indexes ◽  
Price Measurement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Methodological Guidelines

This chapter addresses how innovation may affect price measurement—a key issue for the accuracy of measures of principal economic indicators and a long-discussed one. Two main changes related to product innovation are important in this context: new goods (which are often cheaper) are driving old goods out of the market; and new products often offer improved quality. The literature suggests that a failure to properly account for these has added 0.8 percentage points per year to the measured Consumer Price Index in the United States. Quality adjustment approaches in all OECD countries have converged towards general methodological guidelines that represent a common knowledge base. The hedonic methodology is applied in a significant number of countries and for specific categories of goods, in particular electronic products. The use of this approach is exemplified and the impact on price indexes evaluated.

The Impact of Duplicate Orders on Demand Estimation and Capacity Investment

2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (10) ◽  
pp. 1505-1518 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mor Armony ◽  
Erica L. Plambeck
Keyword(s):  
Demand Estimation ◽  
Capacity Investment ◽  
On Demand ◽  
The Impact

The impact of labor freedom on geographic cost of living differentials

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 385-395
Author(s):  
Richard Cebula ◽  
James E. Payne ◽  
Donnie Horner ◽  
Robert Boylan
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
State Level ◽  
The State ◽  
Annual Data ◽  
Significant Finding ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Usa ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of labor market freedom on state-level cost of living differentials in the USA using cross-sectional data for 2016 after allowing for the impacts of economic and quality of life factors. Design/methodology/approach The study uses two-stage least squares estimation controlling for factors contributing to cost of living differences across states. Findings The results reveal that an increase in labor market freedom reduces the overall cost of living. Research limitations/implications The study can be extended using panel data and alternative measures of labor market freedom. Practical implications In general, the finding that less intrusive government and greater labor freedom are associated with a reduced cost of living should not be surprising. This is because less government intrusion and greater labor freedom both inherently allow markets to be more efficient in the rationalization of and interplay with forces of supply and demand. Social implications The findings of this and future related studies could prove very useful to policy makers and entrepreneurs, as well as small business owners and public corporations of all sizes – particularly those considering either location in, relocation to, or expansion into other markets within the USA. Furthermore, the potential benefits of the National Right-to-Work Law currently under consideration in Congress could add cost of living reductions to the debate. Originality/value The authors extend the literature on cost of living differentials by investigating whether higher amounts of state-level labor market freedom act to reduce the states’ cost of living using the most recent annual data available (2016). That labor freedom has a systemic efficiency impact on the state-level cost of living is a significant finding. In our opinion, it is likely that labor market freedom is increasing the efficiency of labor market transactions in the production and distribution of goods and services, and acts to reduce the cost of living in states. In addition, unlike previous related studies, the authors investigate the impact of not only overall labor market freedom on the state-level cost of living, but also how the three sub-indices of labor market freedom, as identified and measured by Stansel et al. (2014, 2015), impact the cost of living state by state.

scholarly journals Getting Prices Right: What Should Be Done?

1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Deaton
Keyword(s):  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Identification Problems ◽  
Single Index ◽  
Rate Of Increase ◽  
Price Indexes ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Heterogeneous Consumers

Much of the profession accepts that the CPI likely overstates the rate of increase of the cost-of-living. It is less clear that there are sound and feasible steps that the BLS can adopt to improve matters in the short run. There are unresolved conceptual and identification problems in the measurement of quality. Superlative price indexes are not feasible, and feasible approximations are not superlative, and may not even be better. The need for a single index that aggregates over heterogeneous consumers with different incomes, tastes, and needs casts serious doubt on the cost-of-living approach.

The Impact of Regional Differences in Prices and Wages on Economic Growth: The United States in 1890

1979 ◽  
Vol 39 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip R. P. Coelho ◽  
James F. Shepherd
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The United States ◽  
City Size ◽  
Cost Of Living ◽  
Real Wages ◽  
Industrial Growth ◽  
Wage Earners ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Differences in regional prices and wages are examined for the United States in 1890, together with the relationship between the cost of living and city size, and the determinants of regional industrial growth. Results indicate that regional cost-of-liying differences were sufficiently large so that money wages cannot be used for purposes of comparing the economic well-being of wage earners across regions. Except for the South, money wages and the cost of living were positively correlated. The relative differences in money wages, however, were greater; consequently real wages in high wage-price areas were generally higher.

scholarly journals Fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy: an invaluable microscopy tool for uncovering the biophysical rules for navigating the nuclear landscape

2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (4) ◽  
pp. 1117-1129 ◽  
Author(s):  
David G. Priest ◽  
Ashleigh Solano ◽  
Jieqiong Lou ◽  
Elizabeth Hinde
Keyword(s):  
Nuclear Protein ◽  
Nuclear Architecture ◽  
Nuclear Proteins ◽  
Protein Diffusion ◽  
Fluorescence Fluctuation Spectroscopy ◽  
Fluorescent Tracer ◽  
Target Search ◽  
Chromatin Compaction ◽  
Structural Framework ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Nuclear architecture is fundamental to the manner by which molecules traverse the nucleus. The nucleoplasm is a crowded environment where dynamic rearrangements in local chromatin compaction locally redefine the space accessible toward nuclear protein diffusion. Here, we review a suite of methods based on fluorescence fluctuation spectroscopy (FFS) and how they have been employed to interrogate chromatin organization, as well as the impact this structural framework has on nuclear protein target search. From first focusing on a set of studies that apply FFS to an inert fluorescent tracer diffusing inside the nucleus of a living cell, we demonstrate the capacity of this technology to measure the accessibility of the nucleoplasm. Then with a baseline understanding of the exploration volume available to nuclear proteins during target search, we review direct applications of FFS to fluorescently labeled transcription factors (TFs). FFS can detect changes in TF mobility due to DNA binding, as well as the formation of TF complexes via changes in brightness due to oligomerization. Collectively, we find that FFS-based methods can uncover how nuclear proteins in general navigate the nuclear landscape.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document