Panel data models have become increasingly popular among applied researchers due to their heightened capacity for capturing the complexity of human behavior, as compared to cross-sectional or time series data models. This second edition represents a substantial revision of the highly successful first edition (1986). Recent advances in panel data research are presented in an accessible manner and are carefully integrated with the older material. The thorough discussion of theory and the judicious use of empirical examples make this book useful to graduate students and advanced researchers in economics, business, sociology and political science.

Pioneering work on an important new approach to economics.

The rapid pace of technological change brings with it an active debate about appropriate economic policies regarding research, innovation, and the commercialization of new technology. This annual series, sponsored by the National Bureau of Economic Research, provides a forum to bring the work of leading academic researchers to an audience of policymakers and those interested in the interaction between public policy and innovation.

Alan Greenspan was quoted in 1998 as saying "the current economic performance ... is as impressive as any I have witnessed in my near half-century of daily observation of the American economy." With inflation down and corporate profits pouring in, it's hard not to share in this optimism. But in the early '90s, things weren't quite this rosy. Richard Lester opens his book The Productive Edgewith a recounting of that embarrassing day in Tokyo in 1992 when George Bush coughed up "the barf heard around the world" onto the lap of his dinner companion, the Japanese prime minister. At the time, American industry was in a funk, cowering before the economic might of Japan and Germany. Today, the roles seem reversed, but are they really?

Lester believes that the insecurity and volatility that marked those years is masked but still with us today. He points out that a decade of downsizing, corporate restructuring, and new management techniques has not improved the rate of productivity growth, which he believes to be the "most important measure of any nation's economic performance." The book first looks at the dismal state of productivity in the U.S., then considers examples and extracts lessons from companies in the automobile, steel, semiconductor, and cellular communications industries that have successfully bucked the trend. Lester attacks the total quality movement and corporate reengineering as ineffective and argues that to increase productivity and to lessen the insecurity and volatility lurking just below the surface of the bubbling economy, both business and government must spend more, not less, on research, development, and people. The Productive Edgewill open your eyes to the problems inherent in today's economy and offer solutions useful to anyone in business and government. —Harry C. Edwards

Presenting a thorough and accessible treatment of generalized linear mixed models, also known as multilevel or hierarchical models, Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata explains the models and their assumptions, applies methods to real data using Stata, and shows how to interpret the results. Beginning with the comparatively simple random-intercept linear model without covariates, the text develops the mixed model from first principles, familiarizing the reader with terminology, summarizing and relating the widely used estimating strategies, and providing historical perspective. Once this mixed-model foundation has been established, the text smoothly transitions to random-intercept models with covariates and then to random-coefficient models. The middle chapters apply the concepts defined earlier for Gaussian models to models for binary responses (e.g., logit and probit), ordinal responses (e.g., ordered logit and ordered probit), and count responses (e.g., Poisson). Models with multiple levels of random variation are then considered, as well as models with crossed (nonnested) random effects. The most complete and up-to-date depiction of Stata's capacity for fitting generalized linear mixed models, Multilevel and Longitudinal Modeling Using Stata serves as an ideal introduction for Stata users wishing to learn about this powerful data-analysis tool.

Winner of the 1998 Leo Melamed Prize sponsored by theJournal of Business

Contrary to popular opinion, human resources, in general, and personnel, in particular, are well-suited to economic analysis. Edward Lazear, who founded the subfield of personnel economics, provides a quick introduction for economists who have not studied the area. He clearly and engagingly summarizes his and others' work that has taken place during the past fifteen years, including recent advances in the field.

Mainstream economic theory has been considered too abstract to be of much practical use in the hiring, organizing, and motivating of employees, leaving the field of personnel to industrial psychologists and sociologists. In this book Edward Lazear shows that economic analysis can be extended to an important, but traditionally neglected, class of practical problems. He shows that by adding more detail and structure to their theory, economists can make specific predictions and prescriptions for personnel issues that arise in business on a daily basis. Lazear focuses on compensation and its relation to worker motivation, selection, and teamwork. He also discusses job design, job evaluation, institutional arrangements, and directions for future research.

Written by the creators of Stata's likelihood maximization features, Maximum Likelihood Estimation with Stata, Third Edition continues the pioneering work of the previous editions. Emphasizing practical implications for applied work, the first chapter provides an overview of maximum likelihood estimation theory and numerical optimization methods. With step-by-step instructions, the next several chapters detail the use of Stata to maximize user-written likelihood functions. Various examples include logit, probit, linear, Weibull, and random-effects linear regression as well as the Cox proportional hazards model. The final chapters describe how to add a new estimation command to Stata. Assuming a familiarity with Stata, this reference is ideal for researchers who need to maximize their own likelihood functions. New ml commands and their functions: · constraint: fits a model with linear constraints on the coefficient by defining your constraints; accepts a constraint matrix · ml model: picks up survey characteristics; accepts the subpop option for analyzing survey data · optimization algorithms: Berndt-Hall-Hall-Hausman (BHHH), Davidon-Fletcher-Powell (DFP), Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno (BFGS) · ml: switches between optimization algorithms; computes variance estimates using the outer product of gradients (OPG)

The Economics of Information Technology is a concise and accessible review of important economic factors affecting information technology industries. These industries are characterized by high fixed costs and low marginal costs of production, large switching costs for users, and strong network effects. Hal Varian outlines the basic economics of these industries while Joseph Farrell and Carl Shapiro describe the impact of these factors on competition policy. The volume is an ideal introduction for undergraduate and graduate students in economics, business strategy, law and related areas.

This book presents a unique account of how technological change is generated and the processes by which improved technologies are introduced into economic activity. The central theme of the book is the idea that technological changes are often "path dependent": their form and direction tend to be influenced strongly by the particular sequence of earlier events out of which a new technology has emerged. Individual chapters explore the particular features of new technologies in different historical and sectoral contexts.