期刊-NBER美国国民经济研究局-2017number4_23页_2mb

NBER Reporter Summary - December 2017

Core Content

The NBER Reporter for December 2017 provides an overview of the research conducted by the Program on Industrial Organization (IO). It highlights the program's evolution, its focus on consumer and firm behavior, competition, innovation, and government regulation, as well as the expansion of its research scope into new industries and topics. The report also discusses the importance of soft skills in the labor market and presents several examples of recent research in health insurance, financial markets, and digital advertising.

Main Points

• The NBER is a private, nonprofit research organization that focuses on quantitative analysis of the American economy.
• The IO program, established in 1990, has grown significantly and now includes 83 members.
• The program has seen a broadening of research topics over the last three decades, including areas such as health care, education, financial markets, and media.
• Research in the IO program emphasizes the use of econometric methods and quantitative models to analyze market behavior and competition.
• The program's meetings have evolved from a nontraditional format to a more traditional one.

Key Research Topics

1. Soft Skills in the Labor Market

• Soft skills (non-cognitive skills) are increasingly important in the labor market.
• Employers value teamwork, communication, and collaboration, which are not easily measured or developed.
• Cognitive skills remain important, but their returns have declined since 2000, especially in STEM fields.
• Non-STEM professional jobs, such as managers, nurses, and physicians, have seen faster employment and wage growth.
• Social skills are now seen as necessary for high-paying jobs, complementing cognitive skills.

2. Health Insurance Markets

• The U.S. health insurance market is increasingly regulated and competitive.
• Insurer concentration is high in many markets, raising concerns about market power and pricing.
• Research by Ho and Lee shows that reducing the number of insurers can increase premiums.
• Handel, Hendel, and Whinston examine the impact of community rating in ACA exchanges, highlighting its importance for lower-income workers.
• The study demonstrates the use of quantitative models to understand the complex interactions in health insurance markets.

3. Financial Market Microstructure

• The shift to electronic trading has led to the rise of high-frequency trading (HFT).
• HFTs compete to create liquidity and to "snipe" stale quotes, which can lead to wider bid/ask spreads.
• Budish, Cramton, and Shim propose frequent batch auctions as a potential solution to improve market efficiency.
• Their research has attracted attention from regulatory bodies such as the SEC.

4. Digital Advertising

• Digital advertising, especially search advertising, has become a major focus of IO research.
• Researchers have studied the effectiveness of paid search and the value it creates for consumers, advertisers, and platforms.
• Blake, Nosko, and Tadelis conducted a large-scale experiment with eBay to assess the impact of search advertising.
• They found that branded search ads have little effect on user behavior, while non-branded ads have a smaller impact due to the relatively small share of users who are not familiar with the brand.

Key Information

• The NBER relies on contributions from individuals, corporations, and private foundations to maintain its independence.
• The Reporter is an informational publication and is not copyrighted, allowing for free reproduction with proper attribution.
• The IO program has a winter meeting on the West Coast and a summer meeting during the NBER Summer Institute.
• The program has expanded its research to include a wide range of industries and topics, including health care, education, financial markets, and media.
• The use of data from private companies and experimental methods has become more common in IO research.

Conclusion

The NBER Reporter for December 2017 showcases the growing importance of soft skills in the labor market and the expanding scope of the IO program. It illustrates how the program has adapted to new economic challenges and opportunities, emphasizing the use of quantitative models and empirical data to understand market dynamics. The research presented highlights the relevance of industrial organization in various sectors and underscores the program's ongoing contributions to economic analysis.