Elected to BREAD Board: Robin Burgess and Maitreesh Ghatak

Robin Burgess and Maitreesh Ghatak have recently been elected to the Board of Directors of BREAD (Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development). Together with Tim Besley, LSE now has the maximum number of faculty members (three) in the BREAD Board. The only other institution to have three BOARD members is Harvard University.

Andrea Prat (joint with Amil Dasgupta) ''Information aggregation in financial markets with career concerns'', forthcoming in JET

A paper by Andrea Prat (joint with Amil Dasgupta) Information aggregation in financial markets with career concerns, is forthcoming in the Journal of Economic Theory.

Abstract: What are the equilibrium features of a dynamic financial market in which traders care about their reputation for ability? The authors modify a standard sequential trading model to include traders with career concerns. They show that this market cannot be informationally efficient: there is no equilibrium in which prices converge to the true value, even after an infinite sequence of trades. They characterize the most revealing equilibrium of this game and show that an increase in the strength of the traders’ reputational concerns has a negative effect on the extent of information that can be revealed in equilibrium but a positive effect on market liquidity.

Oriana Bandiera (joint with Iwan Barankay and Imran Rasul) ''Social Capital in the Workplace: Evidence on its Formation and Consequences''

A paper by Oriana Bandiera (joint with Iwan Barankay and Imran Rasul) "Social Capital in the Workplace: Evidence on its Formation and Consequences" is forthcoming in Labour Economics.

Abstract: The existence of social ties between co-workers affect many aspects of firm and worker behavior, such as how workers respond to a given set of incentives, the optimal compensation structures for workers at different tiers of the firm hierarchy, and the optimal organizational design for the firm. This paper presents evidence on the social capital in one particular firm, as embodied in the friendship ties among its workers. The authors describe the structure of the friendship network as a whole and present evidence on the determinants of social ties. Finally, they review evidence from a field experiment they conducted in the firm to highlight one particular mechanism through which social capital significantly affects worker performance.

Tim Besley delivers the Richard Ely Distinguished Lecture Series 2008

Tim Besley has been invited to give 3 lectures in the prestigious Richard Ely Distinguished Lecture Series during the week of 14th April 2008 at Johns Hopkins University. More details can be found at www.econ.jhu.edu.

Status Incentives by Timothy Besley and Maitreesh Ghatak

"Status Incentives" by Tim Besley and Maitreesh Ghatak will be published in the American Economic Review, Papers and Proceedings, in May 2008.

Abstract: When economists study incentives in organizations, the main focus has been on using monetary payments in exchange for performance on specific measurable dimensions. But organizations use a wide variety of means to motivate their workers. One such method which has not been studied much to date, is the explicit creation of status rewards attached to good performance. In this paper, the authors consider the role of such status awards as an incentive device.

Lord Stern's Maiden Speech in the House of Lords

The text and video link to Lord Stern of Brentford's Maiden Speech last Thursday, 6 March is now available.

• Full text of speech
  
  
• Video

Polarisation and Conflict Conference at LSE

The final meeting of the Polarisation and Conflict (PAC) Project, sponsored by the Community Sixth Framework was held at STICERD on 7 and 8 March 2008. Participants include Gerald Schneider, Eliana La Ferrara, Oeindrila Dube, Timothy Besley, James Fearon, Marta Reynal-Querol, Saumitra Jha, Benjamin Olken, Edward Miguel, Kalle Moene.

In addition there was a presentation of PAC findings by Joan Esteban and Gerald Schneider and a Roundtable with James Fearon, Anke Hoeffler and Edward Miguel.