Oz Shy

photo of oz shy
Senior Economist
Consumer Payments Research Center
Research Department
T: 617-973-3979
F: 617-973-4218
Oz.Shy@bos.frb.org
 
Primary fields of research:
Industrial organization, network economics, banking, payments, international trade

Oz Shy is a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston and a member of the Consumer Payments Research Center in the Research Department. His research focuses on payment instruments and the structure of the banking industry. He has published three books: How to Price (Cambridge University Press, 2008), The Economics of Network Industries (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications (MIT Press, 1996).  Shy has published more than 40 journal and book articles in the areas of industrial organization, network economics, banking, payments, and international trade. He serves on the editorial boards of the International Journal of Industrial Organization and Review of Network Economics.  Prior to joining the bank, Shy has taught at the Universities of Michigan, Haifa, Tel Aviv, Stockholm School of Economics, Hanken, and the State University of New York. During 2004–2007 he was a research professor at the WZB – Social Science Research Center, Berlin.

  • Education
  • Work Experience
  • Publications
  • Public Service

Education

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1986

B.A., Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 1980

Work Experience

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Senior Economist, 2009–
University of Michigan,  Economics,
Visiting Professor, 1994–1996, 2007–2009
WZB – Social Science Research Center, Berlin
Research Professor, 2004–2007
Haifa University, Economics
Professor, 1997–2009
Stockholm School of Economics
Visiting Professor 1996–1997
Tel Aviv University, Economics
Lecturer, 1990–1996
State University of New York, Economics
Assistant Professor, 1986–1990

Publications

Refereed journal articles

"Efficient Organization of Production: Nested versus Horizontal Outsourcing." Economics Letters. 116(3): 593-596 (September 2012).

"An Economic Analysis of the 2011 Settlement Between the Department of Justice and Credit Card Networks," with S. Schuh, J. Stavins, and R. Triest. Journal of Competition Law & Economics. 8(1): 107-144 (March 2012).

"Account-to-Account Electronic Money Transfers: Recent Developments in the United States." Review of Network Economics. 11(1) (March 2012).

"A Welfare Evaluation of History-Based Price Discrimination," with T. Gehrig and R. Stenbacka. Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Forthcoming.

"A Short Survey of Network Economics," Review of Industrial Organization. 38(2): 119–149 (March 2011).

"Real Estate Brokers and Commission: Theory and Calibration," Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Forthcoming.

"History-based Price Discrimination and Entry in Markets with Switching Costs: A Welfare Analysis," with T. Gehrig and R. Stenbacka. European Economic Review. 55(5): 732–739 (June 2011).

"Consistent Bargaining," Economics Bulletin. 30(2): 1425-1432 (May 2010).

"Why Do Card Networks Charge Proportional Fees?" with Zhu Wang. American Economic Review. 101(4): 1575–1590 (June 2011).

“Constant Best-Response Functions: Interpreting Cournot,” with Z. Forshner. International Journal of Business and Economics, 8(1): 1-6 (April 2009).

“Measuring the Cost of Making Payment Decisions.” Journal of Socio-Economics. 37(6): 2411 (December 2008).

“Refunds and Collusion in Service Industries,” with S. Ringbom. Journal of Economics and Business. 60(6): 502-516 (November-December 2008).

“Assessing Market Dominance,” with A. Melnik and R. Stenbacka. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 68(1): 63-72 (October 2008).

“Price Competition, Business Hours, and Shopping Time Flexibility,” with R. Stenbacka.  Economic Journal. 118: 1171-1195 (August 2008).

“Rethinking the Roles of Banks: A Call for Narrow Banking,” with R. Stenbacka. The Economists’ Voice. 5(2) Article 6 (June 2008).

“Liquidity Provision and Optimal Bank Regulation,” with R. Stenbacka.  International Journal of Economic Theory. 3(3): 219-233 (September 2007).

“Dynamic Models of Religious Conformity and Conversion: Theory and Calibrations.” European Economic Review. 51(5): 1127–1153 (July 2007).

“Publishers, Artists, and Copyright Enforcement,” with A. Gayer. Information Economics & Policy. 18(4): 374–384 (November 2006).

“Service Hours with Asymmetric Distributions of Ideal Service Time,” with R. Stenbacka. International Journal of Industrial Organization. 24(4): 736-771 (July 2006).

“Partial Outsourcing, Monitoring Cost, and Market Structure,” with R. Stenbacka. Canadian Journal of Economics. 38(4): 1173–1190 (November 2005).

“Advance Booking, Cancellations, and Partial Refunds,” with S. Ringbom. Economics Bulletin. 13(1): 1–7 (2004).

“Market Structure and Risk Taking in the Banking Industry,” with R. Stenbacka.  Journal of Economics. 82(3): 249–280 (July 2004).

“Code-Sharing Agreements and Interconnections in Markets for International Flights,” with O. Hassin. Review of International Economics. 12(3): 337–352 (August 2004).

“Optimal Liquidity Management and Bail-Out Policy in the Banking Industry,” with S. Ringbom. Journal of Banking & Finance. 28(6): 1319–1335 (June 2004).

“Copyright Protection and Hardware Taxation”, with A. Gayer. Information Economics & Policy. 15(4): 467–483 (December 2003).

“Internet and Peer-to-Peer Distributions in Markets for Digital Products,” with A. Gayer. Economics Letters. 81(2): 51–57 (November 2003).

“Market Structure and Diversification of Mutual Funds,” with R. Stenbacka. Journal of Financial Markets. 6 (4): 607–624 (August 2003).

“Pricing of Library Subscriptions with Applications to Scientific Journals,” with E. Issman-Weit. Journal of Economics & Business. 55(2): 197–218 (March–April 2003).

Strategic Outsourcing,” with R. Stenbacka. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. 50(2): 203–224 (February 2003).

“The ‘Adjustable-Curtain’ Strategy: Overbooking of Multiclass Service,” with S. Ringbom. Journal of Economics 77(1): 73–60 (2002).

“The Market for Electronic Cash Cards,” with J. Tarkka. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking. 34(2): 299–314 (May 2002).

“A Quick-and Easy Method for Estimating Switching Costs.” International Journal of Industrial Organization. 20(1): 71–87 (January 2002).

“Price Competition When Consumer Behavior Is Characterized by Conformity and Vanity,” with J. Grilo and J. Thisse. Journal of Public Economics. 80(3): 385–408 (June 2001).

“Standardization Policy and International Trade,” with N. Gandal. Journal of International Economics. 53(2): 363–383 (2001).

“Exporting as a Signal for Product Quality.” Economica. 67(1): 79–90 (February 2000).

“A Strategic Approach to Software Protection,” with J. Thisse. Journal of Economics & Management Strategy. 8(2): 163–190 (Summer 1999).

“Network Structure and Entry in the Deregulated Airline Industry,” with J. Berechman and S. Poddar. Keio Economic Studies. 35(2): 71–82 (1998).

“Technology Revolutions in the Presence of Network Externalities,” International Journal of Industrial Organization. 14(6): 785–800 (October 1996).

“Do Consumers Always Gain When More People Buy the Same Brand?” with C. Chou. European Journal of Political Economy. 12: 309–330 (September 1996).

“Bundling and International Market Segmentation,” with H. Horn. International Economic Review. 37(1): 51–69 (February 1996).

“Planned Obsolescence as an Engine of Technological Progress,” with A. Fishman and N. Gandal. Journal of Industrial Economics. 41(4): 361–370 (December 1993).

“The Crowding-Out Effects of Long Duration of Patents,” with C. Chou. Rand Journal of Economics. 24(2): 304–312 (Summer 1993).

“Technology Revolutions and the Gestation of New Technologies” with C. Chou. International Economic Review. 34(3): 631-645 (August 1993).

“Partial Compatibility and Supporting Services,” with C. Chou. Economics Letters. 41: 193–197 (1993).

"A Welfare Evalation of Technology Transfer to Joint Ventures in the Developing Countries," with F. Lee. The International Trade Journal. 7(2): 205–220 (Winter 1992).

“A Model Technology Gap, Product Cycle, and the Process of Catching Up Between the North and the South,” with C. Chou. Economics Record. 217–226 (September 1991).

“An Overlapping Generations Model of Self-Propelled Growth,” with C. Chou. Journal of Macroeconomics. 13(3): 511–521 (Summer 1991).

“Intra-Industry Trade and the Variety of Home Products,” with C. Chou. Canadian Journal of Economics. 24(2): 405–416 (May 1991).

“New Product Development and the Optimal Duration of Patents,” with C. Chou. Southern Economic Journal. 57(3): 811–-821 (January 1991).

“Network Effects without Network Externalities,” with C. Chou. International Journal of Industrial Organization. 8: 259-270 (June 1990).

“External Effects and Pareto Inferior Trade.” Southern Economic. 56: 56–63 (July 1989).

“A General Equilibrium Model of Pareto Inferior Trade,” Journal of International Economics. 25: 143–154 (August 1988).

Books and book chapters

How to Price: A Guide to Pricing Techniques and Yield Management. Cambridge University Press, 2008.

The Economics of Network Industries. Cambridge University Press, 2001. Chinese edition: Shanghai University of Finance & Economics Press, 2002. Japanese edition: Springer-Tokyo, 2003. Taiwan edition: Yeh Yeh Book Gallery, 2004.

Industrial Organization: Theory and Applications. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 1996. Chinese edition: Tsinghua University Press, 2005.

“Code-Sharing Agreements, Frequency of Flights, and Profits Under Parallel Operation,” with O. Heimer, in D. Lee (ed.) Advances in Airline Economics, Vol. 11: Competition Policy and Antitrust Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2006.

“Copyright Enforcement in the Digital Era,” with A. Gayer, in G. Illing and M. Peitz (eds.) Industrial Organization and the Digital Economy Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2006.

“Industrial Organization.” in A. Kuper and J. Kuper (eds.) The Social Science Encyclopedia, third edition Routledge, 2005.

“The Economics of Copy Protection in Software and Other Media.” in B. Kahin and H. Varian (eds.) Internet Publishing and Beyond: The Economics of Digital Information and Intellectual Property Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press, 2000.

“The Structure of Airline Equilibrium Networks.” in J. van den Bergh, P. Nijkamp, and P. Rietveld (eds.) Recent Advances in Spatial Equilibrium Modelling: Methodology and Applications Amsterdam: Springer, 1996.

Working papers and other unpublished papers

"Investment in Customer Recognition and Information Exchange" with Rune Stenbacka. FRB Boston Working Papers Series, paper no. 12-4 (2012).

"Account-To-Account Electronic Money Transfers: Recent Developments in the United States." FRB Boston Public Policy Discussion Paper Series, paper no. 11-10 (2011).

"Customer Recognition and Competition" with Rune Stenbacka. FRB Boston Working Papers Series, paper no. 11-7 (2011).

"An Economic Analysis of the 2010 Proposed Settlement Between the Department of Justice and Credit Card Networks" with Scott Schuh, Joanna Stavins, and Robert Triest. FRB Boston Public Policy Discussion Papers Series, paper no. 11-4 (2011).

"Who Gains and Who Loses from Credit Card Payments? Theory and Calibrations" with Scott Schuh and Joanna Stavins. FRB Boston Public Policy Discussion Papers Series, paper no. 10-3 (2010).

"A Short Survey of Network Economics". FRB Boston Working Paper Series, no. 10-3 (2010).

"Person-To-Person Electronic Funds Transfers: Recent Developments and Policy Issues. FRB Boston Public Policy Discussion Paper Series, no.10-1 (2010).

"Efficient Organization of Outsourcing: Nested versus Horizontal Outsourcing," with Rune Stenbacka. FRB Boston Working Paper Series, no. 09-9, (2009).

"Real Estate Brokers and Commission: Theory and Calibrations." FRB Boston Working Paper Series, no. 09-8, (2009).

Other material

Invited lectures at national doctoral programs:
“Economics of Network Industries.” National Network of Economics NAKE, Groningen University, December 8–12, 2003.

“Network Economics and Related Topics.” The Finnish Postgraduate Program in Economics FPPE, October 23–26, 2000.

 

Public Service

Editorial boards:
International Journal of Industrial Organization. (Editor, 2002–2004, Associate Editor 2005–present).

Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization. (Associate Editor, 2004–2006).

Review of Network Economics. (Editorial Board, 2001–present).