If you do not have access to the published version of my papers, feel free to contact me for a copy.
Productivity when working from home - Evidence from Saudi Arabia (Applied Economics, forthcoming)
(joint with Fahad Alammar)
Abstract
We use the shift to working from home (WFH) induced by the COVID-19 lockdown to examine the determinants of WFH productivity among workers in Saudi Arabia, a country that imposed one of the world's most stringent pandemic lockdowns while undergoing rapid female labour-market liberalization. We find that the ease of performing job tasks from home is the strongest predictor of maintaining or improving productivity. Collaboration and communication also matter: frequent meetings and relationships with colleagues and clients unaffected by WFH are associated with higher productivity. Having a dedicated workspace and feeling supported by one’s organisation further enhance outcomes, particularly in larger firms. Finally, productivity declines more sharply with the number of children for women than for men, highlighting the continued influence of family responsibilities on remote work outcomes. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the conditions under which WFH can be productive in emerging economies experiencing major institutional and social transitions.
Price-Match Guarantees and Investment Incentives (Information Economics and Policy, 53:1-11 (2020))
(joint with Byung-Cheol Kim)
Abstract
We consider duopoly sequential price competition between a low-cost online firm and a high-cost brick-and-mortar firm that decides whether to price-match the low-cost rival. We study how price-match guarantees affect the incentives of both firms to invest in cost reduction and quality enhancement. We find that price-match guarantees in our model weaken these incentives in most cases. Our research reveals more reasons to suspect that seemingly pro-competitive price-matching by many offline rivals to online sellers may have hidden social costs.
Do high school curricula matter for performance in universities?
Abstract
Little empirical work has been done to identify the impact of different high school curricula on performance in universities. Using a novel setting in a Middle Eastern university that admits students from the American, British, International Baccalaureate (IB) and various other high school curricula, we test for differences in several performance measures of university students. British-curriculum graduates consistently outperform all other groups across most outcomes. IB students exhibit greater dispersion: strong IB graduates match British students, while weaker IB students sort into less demanding majors and earn lower GPAs. American, Saudi, and other curricula show sizable negative differentials. The results indicate meaningful and persistent differences in university readiness across curricula, with implications for parents, schools, policymakers, and admissions offices.
The Impact of Uber and Lyft on Taxi Service Quality: Evidence from New York City
(joint with Erik Johnson and Byung-Cheol Kim)
Abstract
Using data on 1.6 billion Uber, Lyft and taxi trips and a dataset on 150,000 complaints against taxi drivers not analyzed by anyone before, we study how the entry of Uber and Lyft has affected the quality of yellow taxi service in New York City. Our empirical design employs a panel structure over 263 NYC taxi-zones from 2014 to 2017 for a variety of complaint types. Drivers move across these zones and we use a directed-network community detection algorithm from machine learning to obtain clusters of zones. To account for potential simultaneity among complaints, ride-sharing penetration and taxi trips, we employ Bartik-style shift-share instruments. We find that increased competition from Uber and Lyft has led to fewer complaints regarding refusal to pick-up riders but more complaints regarding unsafe driving, cellphone use while driving, passengers' requests denied and dropoff refusals.
Price Discrimination and Salience
Abstract
I analyze the price discrimination strategies of a monopolist facing consumers that focus too much on price or quality of a product, whichever is more "salient''. I show three results. First, the monopolist generates more profit from making quality salient. Second, whether quality can become salient to the buyers depends on the monopolist's cost of upgrading quality and consumers' preferences for quality upgrades. Finally, the monopolist that serves salient consumers can profitably deviate from the standard price-quality menu by granting high-type consumers an additional discount. These findings have clear implications for the optimal design of pricing schemes.