336 research outputs found
A nonparametric residual-based specification test : asymptotic, finite-sample, and computational properties
No full textThesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Economics, 1993.Includes bibliographical references.by Sara Fisher Ellison.Ph.D
Strategic Entry Deterrence and the Behavior of Pharmaceutical Incumbents Prior to Patent Expiration
No full textThis paper develops a new approach to testing for strategic entry deterrence and applies it to the behavior of pharmaceutical incumbents before patent expiration. It examines a cross section of markets, determining whether behavior is nonmonotonic in market size. Under some conditions, investment levels will be monotone in market size if firms do not invest to deter entry. Strategic investments to deter entry, however, may result in nonmonotonic investment because they are unnecessary in small markets, and impossible in large ones. Consistent with an entry-deterrence motivation is the finding that incumbents in medium-sized markets advertise less prior to patent expiration. (JEL D92, G31, L11, L21, L65)Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and PeaceAlfred P. Sloan FoundationNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant SES-0550897)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant SES-0219205)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (grant SES-9818534
Tax Sensitivity and Home State Preferences in Internet Purchasing
No full textData on memory modules sales are used to explore aspects of e-retail demand. Aggregate sales are examined in state-level regressions. Discrete choice techniques are used to examine (incomplete) hourly sales data from a price comparison site. We find a strong relationship between e-retail sales to a given state and sales tax rates that apply to purchases from offline retailers, suggesting substantial online-offline substitution and the importance of tax avoidance motives. Geography matters in two ways: consumers prefer purchasing from firms in nearby states and appear to have a separate preference for buying from in-state firms.Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (Stanford, Calif.)Hoover Institution on War, Revolution, and PeaceInstitute for Advanced Study (Princeton, N.J.)Toulouse Network for Information TechnologyNational Science Foundation (U.S.) (SES-0219205)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (SES-0550897
Pharmaceutical Prices and Political Activity
No full textDrug prices have been a conspicuous political issue in much of recent history, but no more so than during health care reform debates in 1993 and 1994. This paper investigates possible effects of political activity on pharmaceutical prices, with a particular focus on the health care reform period. It evaluates the extent to which pharmaceutical companies slowed the rates at which they increased prices in an attempt to preempt government intervention. To do so, we characterize companies based on their vulnerability to future price regulation. We then consider patterns in price movements across companies. The results suggest that companies whose drugs had longer patent lives and who had recently increased contributions to their corporate Political Action Committees (PACs) slowed price increases during 1992 and 1994 more than their competitors. It is difficult to distinguish pricing differences across companies in 1993, perhaps because most companies had pledged to keep price increases below the rate of inflation.
Search, Obfuscation, and Price Elasticities on the Internet 1
No full textfor outstanding research assistance. We also thank Patrick Goebel for a valuable tip on internet data collection, Steve Ellison for sharing substantial industry expertise, and Drew Fudenberg for his comments. The first author’s work was supported by NSF grant SBR-9818534 and a fellowship from the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. The second author’s work was supported by a fellowship from the Hoover Institute.
Gradual incorporation of information : pharmaceutical stocks and the evolution of Clinton's healthcare reform Sara F. Ellison [and] Wallace P. Mullin.
No full textTitle from coverJune 200
Search and Obfuscation in a Technologically Changing Retail Environment: Some Thoughts on Implications and Policy
No full text© 2018 by the National Bureau of Economic Research. All rights reserved. Technologies, especially the Internet, have transformed how consumers search for products and prices. Price search has become cheap and easy and, therefore, ubiquitous, for many products. Just as technologies have made price search easier, however, they have increased incentives that firms have to obfuscate, or make price search harder. In this article, we focus on these actions that firms take and their effects on market participants. We discuss empirical evidence on this phenomenon, as well as its welfare impacts in the context of theories of search and obfuscation. Finally, we offer a framework for thinking about policy interventions based on this welfare analysis and outline some of the challenges facing policymakers
Strategic Entry Deterrence and the Behavior of Pharmaceutical Incumbents Prior to Patent Expiration
No full textThis paper develops a new approach to testing for strategic entry deterrence and applies it to the behavior of pharmaceutical incumbents just before they lose patent protection. The approach involves looking at a cross-section of markets and examining whether behavior is nonmonotonic in the size of the market. Under certain conditions, investment levels will be monotone in market size if firms are not influenced by a desire to deter entry. Strategic investments, however, may be nonmonotone because entry deterrence is unnecessary in very small markets and impossible in very large ones, resulting in overall nonmonotonic investment. The pharmaceutical data contain advertising, product proliferation, and pricing information for a sample of drugs which lost patent protection between 1986 and 1992. Among the findings consistent with an entry deterrence motivation are that incumbents in markets of intermediate size have lower levels of advertising and are more likely to reduce advertising immediately prior to patent expiration.
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