Working Papers

These papers are working drafts of research which often appear in final form in academic journals. The published versions may differ from the working versions provided here.

SSRN Research Paper Series

The Social Science Research Network’s Research Paper Series includes working papers produced by Stanford GSB the Rock Center.

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The Simple Economics of Optimal Auctions

Jeremy I. Bulow, John Roberts (1945–2026)
1987

We show that the seller’s problem in devising an optimal auction is virtually identical to the monopolist’s problem in third degree price discrimination. More generally, many of the important results and elegant techniques developed in the field…

Value of Communication in Agencies

Stefan J. Reichelstein, Nahum Meluma
1987

Abstract not available.

Windows of Vulnerability or Cognitive Illusions? Cognitive Processes and the Nuclear Arms Race

Roderick M. Kramer
1987

A number of recent analyses of the nuclear arms race have emphasized the role that psychological processes play in nations’ decisions to arm themselves. The present research was designed to investigate several hypotheses regarding how to…

Organizational Cultures and the Denial, Channeling, and Acceptance of Ambiguity

Joanne Martin, John Shoven
July1986

Abstract not available.

Entry in Monopoly Markets

Peter C. Reiss, Timothy Bresnahan
May1986

Existing empirical models of entry in concentrated markets make indirect inferences about the competitive effect of entry. We propose empirical models whose structural equations are those of several different game-theoretic models of entry. These…

Acquisitions: Myth and Reality

David Jemison, Philippe Haspeslag
1986

This paper offers a set of six observations about acquisitions that run counter to the prevailing wisdom present in many firms today. Ways for managers to rethink their firms’ approach to acquisitions in the context of corporate strategy are…

Agency Theory and the Supply of Effort

David P. Baron
1986

Abstract not available.

Alternative Non-nested Specification Tests of Time Series Investment Models

Ben Bernanke, Henning Bohn, Peter C. Reiss
1986

This paper develops and compares nonnested hypothesis tests for linear regression models with first-order serially correlated errors. It extends the nonnested testing procedures of Pesaran, Fisher and MacAleer, and Davidson and MacKinnon, and…

An Efficiency Analysis of Proposed Rules to Limit Resistance to Tender Offers

David P. Baron
1986

Easterbrook and Fischel have proposed a passivity rule that would prohibit target management from resisting a tender offer. For a m model in which target management has private information about the true value of the target and tender offers are…

An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Exchange Rate Changes on Goods Prices

1986

It is widely believed that changes in foreign currency exchange rates can affect the prices of goods in domestic markets as well as the prices of traded goods. A question of interest to economists, businesses and policymakers is: What determines…

An Equilibrium Model with Keynesian Unemployment at Walrasian Prices

John Roberts (1945–2026)
1986

One of the oldest and most central open problems confronting economic theory is to reconcile the fact of involuntary unemployment with the hypothesis of equilibrium by constructing a closed, reasonably complete economic model which admits such…

An Evolutionary Perspective on Strategy-Making in Organizations: Theory, Comparative Analysis, Research Directions

Robert A. Burgelman
1986

This paper proposes that the strategic process in large, diversified organizations constitutes an internalized and contrived evolutionary mechanism nested in the external environmental context. The paper elaborates this argument and shows how it…

Anomalies in Financial Economics: Blueprint for Change?

1986

This paper examines the case for major changes inn the behavioral assumptions underlying economic models, based on apparent anomalies in financial economics. Arguments for such changes based on claims of “excess volatility” in stock prices…

Attributes of Successful MBAs: A Twenty-Year Longitudinal Study

Thomas W. Harrell, Bernard Alpert
1986

Are attributes of successful MBAs useful for predicting success, and thereby improving business management? In a twenty-year study of Stanford MBAs, 15 and 20 year results have identified the extreme importance to success of sociability. The…

Breach of Contract in Agencies

Nahum Melumad
1986

We consider an agency model in which the agent acquires private pre-decision information after contracting. The agent is allowed to breach the contract by paying the principal pre-determined damages. We demonstrate the relationship of this model…

CASEMAP: Computer-Assisted Self-Explication of Mutl-Attributed Preferences

Gordon A. Wyner, V. “Seenu” Srinivasan
1986

Traditional conjoint analysis techniques do not take account of the fact that consumers often rule out from consideration products that have totally unacceptable attribute levels. This paper proposes a data collection and analysis technique that…

Common Behavior Changes in Successful Organization Development

Jerry I. Porras, Susan Hoffer
1986

The field of organizational development suffers from a lack of a unifying theory of planned organizational change. Diverse models and methods for achieving organizational change have made integration of research difficult, hampering the advance…

Competitive Efficiency Wage Models with Keynesian Features

Charles M. Kahn, Dilip Mookherjee
1986

Competitive general equilibrium models with efficiency wage features are used to analyze some Keynesian propositions. The models are characterized by fully optimizing agents, flexible prices, competitive markets, and absence of demand uncertainty…

Contributions to The New Palgrave

David M. Kreps, John Roberts (1945–2026)
1986

This “paper” consists of six separate, individually authored entries to appear in “The New Palgrave: A Dictionary of Economic Theory and Doctrine”. The contributions are: “Nash Equilibrium” by Kreps, “Large Economies,” “Lindahl Equilibrium and “…