PHILIPP KIRCHER

 

 

 

 

 

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Publications

 


Strategic Firms and Endogenous Consumer Emulation

with Andrew Postlewaite,

Quarterly Journal of Economics, 2008, Vol. 123(2), pp. 621-661

When consumers consider other consumers’ choices before purchasing, firms reward richer consumers to advertise indirectly.          (Technical Appendix)


A Model of Money with Multilateral Matching

with Manolis Galenianos,

Journal of Monetary Economics, 2008, Vol. 55, pp. 1054-1066

 

We introduce sales mechanisms that reveal private information into a monetary economy, derive the distributions of money holdings and prices and show that inflation leads to scarcity from which the poor suffer most. Therefore, inflation acts as a regressive tax.


Directed Search with Multiple Job Applications

with Manolis Galenianos, forthcoming in Journal of Economic Theory

We derive the theoretical properties of an equilibrium search model in which firms strategically set wages to attract workers and workers apply to multiple firms to secure employment.


 

Working Papers

 


Sorting and Decentralized Price Competition  May 2008

with Jan Eeckhout, under revision for Econometrica

 

We extend Becker’s (1973) competitive two-sided matching framework to a process of decentralized price competition, and show that assortative matching depends on a simple trade-off between the supermodularity of the value function and the elasticity of the matching frictions. For a large class of matching frictions the relevant condition is root-supermodularity.


Identifying Sorting – In Theory

with Jan Eeckhout, July 2008

 

In a simple search model, we show that wage data alone does not allow for identification of positive or negative assortative matching.  The strength of sorting can be identified.


Market Power and Efficiency in a Search Model    July 2008

with Manolis Galenianos and Gabor Virag

 

We examine the welfare consequences of the introduction of a minimum wage and unemployment benefits in a frictional labor market. We view these policies are a remedy to the distortions in the market where matching frictions and market power induce low productivity firms to hire too often. Minimum wages exacerbate the inefficiency because they introduce additional distortions in wage-setting. Moderate unemployment benefits increase welfare as they improve the workers’ outside option, thus limiting the firms’ market power.


Prices as Optimal Competitive Sales Mechanisms

with Jan Eeckhout, March 2008    (first draft 02/08)

 

In a setting where seller can attract buyers by setting prices or more complicated sales mechanisms, we investigate when the simple price setting rule is optimal.


Heterogeneous Firms in a Finite Directed Search Economy  with Manolis Galenianos, January 2007     (first draft 05/06)

 

We show that finite directed search economies have equilibria in pure wage posting strategies, and wage dispersion is driven pure by fundamental differences in productivity.