Explaining Cross-Country Productivity Differences in Retail Trade
提出，发展中国家零售业生产率低并非技术采用受阻，而是因为家庭缺乏汽车等互补耐用品，使得现代零售技术不适用；提高测量生产率未必提升福利。
Many macroeconomists argue that productivity is low in developing countries because of frictions that impede the adoption of modern technologies. I argue that in the retail trade sector, developing countries rationally choose technologies with low measured labor productivity. My theory is that the adoption of modern retail technologies is optimal only when household ownership of complementary durable goods, such as cars, is widespread. Because income is low in the developing world, households own few such durables. The theory implies that policies that increase measured retail productivity do not necessarily increase welfare.