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Benjamin R. Mandel |
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Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Economics University of California, Davis One Shields Avenue Davis, CA 95616 E-mail: brmandel@ucdavis.edu |
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Research Interests: International Economics, Asset Pricing
Teaching: Fall 2008: No classes taught
Office Hours: By appointment
On the Job Market: January 2009 |
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Working Papers
· Heterogeneous Firms and Import Quality: Evidence from Transaction-Level Prices (2008) (Job Market Paper)
Abstract: A key emerging insight in international economics is that the scope for quality differentiation can help to explain patterns in export prices. In this paper, I bring a unified theoretical framework of firm heterogeneity in cost and quality to bear on an expansive data set of U.S. import transaction prices collected by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). In contrast to commonly used unit values, the distribution of these micro-data can be observed at the level of highly disaggregate products. I exploit the higher moments of the price data to document four facts pertaining to U.S. import quality: (i) using a novel methodology to identify the scope for quality differentiation, highly differentiated products account for about half of import value; (ii) quantile regression techniques reveal that productive foreign exporters specialize in high-priced varieties in goods with a large scope for quality differentiation, and conversely for low scope goods; (iii) within a product, the prices of high-quality varieties are increasing over time in a pattern suggesting both process and product innovation; and (iv) changes in the real exchange rate are passed through more to prices in products with a higher scope for quality differentiation. (JEL F12, F41)
· Determinants of the Quality Margin in Trade (2008) Link to working paper to come
Abstract: The most significant recent innovation in international economics has been the focus on the firm. Standard models differentiate firms by their productivity, with the more productive firms accruing lower costs and setting lower prices. However, these models conflict with empirical studies documenting that export unit values (which are average prices) are increasing in exporter wealth, distance and firm size; on average, more capable firms tend to set higher prices. A theory in which higher productivity firms set higher prices for higher quality goods helps to match these broad empirical facts in cross-section. In this paper, I construct and calibrate a model of firm heterogeneity in both cost and quality, and use it to predict average export price responses to real shocks. Since the parameters specifying the weight of quality costs in the production function also determine the magnitude of export profit changes in response to a shock (and the curvature of the profit function), they affect the magnitude and symmetry of firm entry and exit in the export market. As a result, aggregate export prices are sensitive to this specification. Adding quality differentiation has the effect of increasing the model prediction of real exchange rate pass-through to prices. (JEL F12, F41)
· Asset Price Signaling and Monetary Policy (2006) [presentation]
Publications
· Art as an Investment and Conspicuous Consumption Good (2008) Forthcoming in the American Economic Review
Abstract: This paper provides a simple and empirically plausible model of artworks as investment vehicles. It reconciles the observation that average financial returns for collectibles are low and volatile with the theory of consumption-based asset pricing. Art assets are appealing both for their ability to transfer consumption over time and their use as signals of wealth, as in the literature on the demand for luxuries. Adding art value into utility, returns also reflect this ‘conspicuous consumption’ dividend; as a result, average financial returns are low. Risk premia for artworks are predicted to be modest or even negative. (JEL Z11, E21)
Presentations
Econometric Society Latin American Meetings (November 2008); Federal Reserve Board of Governors (November 2008); Bureau of Labor Statistics, Intl. Price Program (November 2008); Empirical Investigations in International Trade (October 2008); Association for Cultural Economics Intl. Conference (June 2008); International Trade & Finance Assoc. Conference (May 2008); Federal Reserve Bank of New York BBL (May 2008); Midwest Economics Association Conference (March 2008); Western Economic Assoc. Intl. Conference (June 2007); UC Davis Macro-International BBL (2008, 2007, 2006)
Research Assistance
For the following papers and publications:
· Paul R. Bergin & Robert C. Feenstra, 2007. "Pass-through of Exchange Rates and Competition Between Floaters and Fixers," NBER Working Papers 13620, National Bureau of Economic Research.
· Robert C. Feenstra & Alan M. Taylor, 2007. International Economics. Worth Publishers.
· Robert C. Feenstra & Alan Heston & Marcel P. Timmer & Haiyan Deng, July 2007 revision. "Estimating Real Production and Expenditures Across Nations: A Proposal for Improving the Penn World Tables."
· The World Bank, 2007. “Sao Paulo: Inputs for a Sustainable Competitive City Strategy,” Finance, Private Sector and Infrastructure Mgmt. Unit, Latin America and Caribbean Region.
· Giovanni Peri, 2007. "Immigrants' Complementarities and Native Wages: Evidence from California," NBER Working Papers 12956, National Bureau of Economic Research.
· Gianmarco I.P. Ottaviano & Giovanni Peri, 2006. "Rethinking the Gains from Immigration: Theory and Evidence from the U.S," Working Papers 2006.52, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
Teaching Assistance
· Economics 115B: Economic Development; Karl Mosk, Summer Session I 2007; Major macroeconomic issues of developing countries. Issues include problems in generating capital, conduct of monetary and fiscal policies, foreign aid and investment. Important issues of policy concerning international borrowing and external debt of developing countries.
· Economics 200E: Macroeconomic Theory (Graduate); Kevin Salyer, Spring 2007; Macrodynamic theory of income, employment, and prices. 1. Syllabus 2. Useful Dynamic Programming Notes (by Paul Bergin) 3. Ben’s Notes on the Rietz Equity Premium Paper (JME 1988) Email me for: Full Matlab Code for Crash State Model (.m files) 4. User’s Guide to Solving RBC Models 5. Ben’s Notes on Generating Impulse Responses in Eviews
· Economics 160A: International Trade; Robert Feenstra, Winter
· Economics 110A: World Economic History; Duol Kim, Fall 2005; Development and application of analytical models to explain the nature and functioning of economies before the Industrial Revolution. Examples will be drawn from a variety of societies, including England, China, Polynesia, and Pre-Columbian America.
· Economics 1A: Principles of Microeconomics; Samuel Allen, Spring 2005; Analysis of the allocation of resources and the distribution of income through a price system; competition and monopoly; the role of public policy; comparative economic systems.
· Economics 1B: Principles of Macroeconomics; Christina Taborsky, Fall 2004 & Winter 2005; Analysis of the economy as a whole; determinants of the level of income, employment and prices; money and banking, economic fluctuations, international trade, economic development; the role of public policy.
Miscellaneous Writing
· FT Letters to the Editor: Hiring tactics that will fit every bill
Useful External Links
· Center for International Data at UC Davis · The World Bank: World Development Indicators Online · The World Bank: Doing Business, Comparing Business Regulations · Center for International Development at Harvard: Research Databases · U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics · National Bureau of Economic Research · Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: FRED Macroeconomic Data · Quantitative Macroeconomics & Real Business Cycles Codes
Last updated: 11/01/2008 |
