TY  - JOUR
AU  - Niederle,Muriel
AU  - Roth,Alvin E.
AU  - Ünver,M. Utku
TI  - Unraveling Results from Comparable Demand and Supply: An Experimental Investigation
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 15006
PY  - 2009
Y2  - May 2009
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15006
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w15006.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Muriel Niederle
Department of Economics
579 Serra Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6072
Tel: 650/723-7359
Fax: 650/725-5702
E-Mail: niederle@stanford.edu

Alvin E. Roth
Harvard University
Department of Economics
Littauer 308
Cambridge, MA 02138-3001
Tel: 617/496-6009 (econ)
Fax: 617/495-6537
E-Mail: aroth@hbs.edu

Utku Unver
Boston College
Department of Economics
140 Comm. Ave.
Chestnut Hill, MA, 02467
Tel: 617-5522217
E-Mail: unver@bc.edu
AB  - Markets sometimes unravel, with offers becoming inefficiently early. Often this is attributed to competition arising from an imbalance of demand and supply, typically excess demand for workers. However this presents a puzzle, since unraveling can only occur when firms are willing to make early offers and workers are willing to accept them.  We present a model and experiment in which workers' quality becomes known only in the late part of the market.  However, in equilibrium, matching can occur (inefficiently) early only when there is comparable demand and supply: a surplus of applicants, but a shortage of high quality applicants.
ER  -