Research

Innovation, R&D, and Pharmaceutical Markets

Working Papers

Fostering or Foreclosing? Acquisitions, Control Rights, and Diffusion of Knowledge (with Ruofei Guo)

Abstract: Acquiring a patent can speed an idea’s diffusion or strategically contain it. We study incumbent acquisitions of patented technologies and ask when deals are “acquired to build” versus “acquired to bury.” We develop and estimate a structural model in which firms bid for control and then choose whether to support integration and development or to shelve the technology to avoid cannibalization. The model separates implementation advantages from suppressive incentives and predicts post-acquisition diffusion trajectories and whether acquired knowledge spreads to outside innovators. Counterfactual policy experiments highlight a central trade-off: screening out the most suppressive acquisitions raises diffusion on average, but can also weaken acquisition-based returns and thereby reduce ex ante innovation incentives, potentially discouraging the highest-value breakthroughs.

Work in progress

Dynamic Gains from the Market for Technology: Evidence from Pharmaceutical Licensing
(with Shengmao Cao, Anran Li, and Jingyuan Wang)
Price Regulation, Generic Competition, and Drug Supply Shortage (with Shengmao Cao)

Insurance Markets and Healthcare Contracting

Working Papers

Mergers with Intermediation: The Price Effect of Distant Hospital Mergers (with David Dranove and Benjamin Vatter)

Abstract: Cross-market hospital mergers often raise prices at acquired hospitals, but not for the usual local market-power reasons. Patient overlap with multi-region employers explains some cases, yet many price increases occur without overlap. We find that employer access requirements and contracting frictions may drive these effects, with important implications for antitrust enforcement.

Work in progress

Reinsuring the Insurers of Last Resort (with David Dranove, Craig Garthwaite, Chris Ody, and Molly Schnell)
Effect of Long-term Care Insurance on Care Utilization and Substitution

Pre-PHD Research
*Note: This work was conducted during my undergraduate and master’s programs at Yonsei University.

- Political Orientation and Policy Compliance: Evidence from COVID-19 Mobility Patterns in Korea (with Hee-Seung Yang)
  The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, 2025
- Home Alone: Local Economic Impacts of Single-person households (with Hee-Seung Yang)
- Living in Awareness: Mobility Responses to Sex Offender Release and Reentry (with Youngsuk Bang, Jiseob Kim, and Julie Kim)