Field experiments reveal that Facebook and Instagram compete broadly for user time, not narrowly with Snapchat for social networking. When platform usage drops, only 6-16% of diverted time shifts to other social networks; the rest scatters across gaming, YouTube, TikTok,...

Financial crises are “everywhere and always” a problem of short-term debt. In this Extra Slice of The Pie, Nobel laureate Douglas Diamond explains his groundbreaking research on why banks exist in the first place, and why they’re vulnerable to runs....

Though direct lending has grown rapidly in recent years, it is primarily concentrated among firms in specific industries and specific geographies where private equity investment is prevalent. Large parts of the US economy remain essentially untouched by direct lending activity.

Variation in financial reporting quality explains 10-20% of within-industry productivity differences. Audits boost productivity independently of management practices through two channels: improving managers’ internal information and constraining tax-motivated underreporting. The effects are strongest in competitive, low-margin industries and among younger...