Working Papers

Information Constraints and Technology Efficiency: Field Experiments Benchmarking Firms' Website Performance (with Richard Kneller and Cher Li)

This study examines the role of peer-benchmarked information costs as a motivation to maintain the performance of digital technologies by firms. Leveraging two natural field experiments, we provided firms with bespoke reports that benchmarked their website performance against their peers. These distinct experimental frameworks enabled us to assess the salience of the information provided and the heterogeneity stemming from prior experience and potential for improvement. Our results suggest some modest effects from peer benchmarks on performance, although there is evidence of changes to the use of specific software tools that enhance website performance — key intermediate outcomes that serve as measurable indicators of efforts to change, aiming for longer-term performance gains.

Commuting and Residential Mobility: Evidence from the UK (work in progress)

This paper examines the effect of commuting on an individual's residential mobility preference using data from the UK Household Longitudinal Study survey (Understanding Society). Together with the preference to move, the paper also assesses the impact of commuting on the expectation to move. For the identification strategy, I use a change in commuting time for those individuals who stay with the same employer and remain in the same place of residence. The paper finds that commuting increases the individual's intent to relocate and increases the expectation to move. The results contribute to the literature on the effect of commuting on residential choice and the subsequent labour market outcomes. Moreover, understanding the impact of commuting on individuals' preference to relocate has great policy implications, since commuting and the decisions surrounding it are considered as the remedy to local economic problems.