Meetings: Winter, 2009

Measuring Economic Activity in Markets for Ideas, Innovation, and Other Intangibles

The NBER's Program on Technological Change and Productivity Measurement met in Cambridge on December 5. Program Director Ernst R. Berndt of NBER and MIT and Wesley M. Cohen of NBER and Duke University organized the meeting. The following topics were discussed:

• James Bessen, Boston University, "More Machines or Better Machines"
• Rachel Soloveichik, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Theatrical Movies as a Capital Asset"
• Jaison R. Abel, Federal Reserve Bank of New York, and Todd M. Gabe, University of Maine, "Human Capital and Economic Activity in Urban America"
• Dietmar Harhoff, University of Munich, "Patent Families, Equivalents, and Patent Value"
• Carol A. Robbins, Bureau of Economic Analysis, "Measuring Payments for the Supply and Use of Intellectual Property"
• Panel Discussion on "Useful and Needed Research on Measuring Economic Activity in Markets for Ideas, Innovation, and Other Intangibles"
• Chair: Wesley M. Cohen
• Panel: Avi Goldfarb, University of Toronto; Jonathan Haskell, Imperial College Business School; Charles R. Hulten, University of Maryland and NBER; and Margaret Blair , Vanderbilt University
• Carol Corrado, The Conference Board, "Report of the NSF/Conference Board Workshop on Innovation Data"
• Julie Lane, National Science Foundation, "Improvements and Future Challenges for the Research Infrastructure: Administrative Transaction Data"

International Trade and Investment

The NBER's Program on International Trade and Investment met at the University of California, San Diego on December 5 and 6. Program Director Robert C. Feenstra of the University of California, Davis chose these papers to discuss:

• Costas Arkolakis, Yale University and NBER, "Market Penetration Costs and Trade Dynamics"
• Costas Arkolakis, and Marc-Andreas Muendler, University of California, San Diego and NBER, "The Extensive Margin of Exporting Goods: A Firm-Level Analysis"
• Pravin Krishna, Johns Hopkins University and NBER, and Mine Z. Senses, Johns Hopkins University, "International Trade and Labor Income Risk in the United States"
• Jeffrey Grogger, University of Chicago and NBER, and Gordon H. Hanson, University of California, San Diego and NBER, "Income Maximization and the Selection and Sorting of International Migrants"
• Dhammika Dharmapala, University of Connecticut; C. Fritz Foley, Harvard University and NBER, and Kristin J. Forbes, MIT and NBER, "The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act: Implications for Financial Constraints, Governance, and International Tax Policy"
• Ram C. Acharya, Industry Canada, and Wolfgang Keller, University of Colorado and NBER, "Estimating the Productivity Selection and Technology Spillover Effects of Imports" (NBER Working Paper No. 14079)
• Pinelopi K. Goldberg, Princeton University and NBER; Amit Khandelwal, Columbia University; Nina Pavcnik, Dartmouth College and NBER, and Petia Topalova, IMF, "Imported Intermediate Inputs and Domestic Product Growth: Evidence from India" (NBER Working Paper No. 14416)
• Stefania Garetto, Princeton University, "Input Sourcing and Multinational Production"

Law and Economics

NBER's Law and Economics Program met in Cambridge on February 6. Program Director Christine Jolls, NBER and Yale Law School, organized the meeting. These papers were discussed:

• Rosalind Dixon, University of Chicago Law School, and Richard Holden, MIT and NBER, "Amending the Constitution: Article V and the Effect of Voting Rule Inflation"
• Vikrant Vig, London Business School, "Access to Collateral and Corporate Debt Structure: Evidence from a Natural Experiment"
• Alberto Galasso, University of Toronto, and Mark Schankerman, London School of Economics, "Patent Thickets and the Market for Innovation: Evidence from Settlement of Patent Disputes"
• Haresh Sapra, University of Chicago; Ajay Subramanian, Georgia State University; and Krishnamurthy Subramanian, Emory University, "Corporate Governance and Innovation: Theory and Evidence"
• Edward L. Glaeser, Harvard University and NBER, and Gergely Ujhelyi, University of Houston, "Regulating Misinformation" (NBER Working Paper No. 12784)
• Marco Ottaviani and Abraham L. Wickelgren, Northwestern University, "Approval Regulation with Learning"
• Ernesto Dal Bo and Marko Tervio, University of California, Berkeley and NBER, "Self-Esteem, Moral Capital, and Wrongdoing" (NBER Working Paper No. 14508)
• Daniel L. Chen and Jasmin Sethi, Harvard University, "The Effects of Sexual Harassment Law on Gender Inequality"

Economic Fluctuations and Growth

NBER's Program on Economic Fluctuations and Growth met at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco on February 13. NBER Research Associates Peter J. Klenow of Stanford University and Valerie A. Ramey, University of California, San Diego, organized the meeting. These papers were discussed:

• Francisco J. Buera, NBER and University of California, Los Angeles; Joseph P. Kaboski, Ohio State University; and Youngseok Shin, Washington University in St. Louis, "Finance and Development: A Tale of Two Sectors"
• Diego Comin, NBER and Harvard University; Mark Gertler, NBER and New York University; and Ana Maria Santacreu, New York University, "Technology Innovation and Diffusion as Sources of Output and Asset Price Fluctuations"
• Glenn D. Rudebusch and Eric T. Swanson, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, "The Bond Premium in a DSGE Model with Long-Run Real and Nominal Risks"
• Eric M. Leeper, NBER and Indiana University; Todd B. Walker, Indiana University' and Shu-Chun Susan Yang, Congressional Budget Office, "Fiscal Foresight and Information Flows" (NBER Working Paper No. 14630)
• Alessandra Fogli, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, and Laura Veldkamp, NBER and New York University, "Nature or Nurture? Learning and the Geography of Female Labor Force Participation" (NBER Working Paper No. 14097)
• James Feyrer, Dartmouth College, "Trade and Income - Exploiting Time Series in Geography"

Industrial Organization

The NBER's Program on Industrial Organization, directed by Nancy L. Rose of MIT, met at the NBER's California offices on February 20-21. Matthew Gentzkow, NBER and University of Chicago, and Matthew White, NBER and University of Pennsylvania, organized the meeting. These papers were discussed:

• Justine S. Hastings, Yale University and NBER, "Wholesale Price Discrimination and Regulation: Implications for Retail Gasoline Prices"
• Nuno Cassola, European Central Bank ; Ali Hortaçsu, University of Chicago and NBER, and Jakub Kastl, Stanford University, "The 2007 Subprime Market Crisis in the Euro Area through the Lens of ECB Repo Auctions"
• Liran Einav, Stanford University and NBER; Amy Finkelstein, MIT and NBER; and Mark R. Cullen, Yale University, "Estimating Welfare in Insurance Markets Using Variation in Prices" (NBER Working Paper No. 14414)
• Jean-Pierre Dubé and Jeremy T. Fox, University of Chicago and NBER, and Che-Lin Su, University of Chicago, "Improving the Numerical Performance of BLP Static and Dynamic Discrete Choice Random Coefficients Demand Estimation"Andrew Sweeting, Duke University and NBER, Equilibrium Price Dynamics in Perishable Goods Markets: The Case of Secondary Markets for Major League Baseball Tickets" (NBER Working Paper No. 14505)
• Patrick Bajari, University of Minnesota and NBER, and Gregory Lewis, Harvard University, "Procurement Contracting with Time Incentives: Theory and Evidence"
• Meghan R. Busse, Northwestern University and NBER; Christopher R. Knittel, UC, Davis and NBER; and Florian Zettelmeyer, Northwestern University and NBER, "Pain at the Pump: How Gasoline Prices Affect Automobile Purchasing in New and Used Markets"