Summary of the Papers – Microeconomics 1991

Martin Neil Baily

Martin Neil Baily Senior Fellow Emeritus - Economic Studies, Center on Regulation and Markets

THE FOURTH CONFERENCE of the microeconomics meetings of the Brookings
Panel was held in December of 1990 and papers were in two groups,
consisting of three data-intensive empirical analyses and three papers
that provide an assessment of the field of industrial organization. The
first two papers were studies of individual industries. Richard E. Caves,
Michael D. Whinston, and Mark A. Hurwitz looked at the pharmaceutical
industry and the entry of generic drugs when patents expire, and
Fred Mannering and Clifford Winston studied brand loyalty in the auto
industry. Following this was the study by Steve J. Davis and John
Haltiwanger of the increase in wage inequality in U.S. manufacturing.
The three papers on aspects of industrial organization consisted of two
review essays, one by Franklin M. Fisher and the other by Alvin K.
Klevorick, of the recently published Handbook on Industrial Organization
and an analysis of the antitrust guidelines by Robert Willig.