New Releases by Michael Rubens

I show that buyer power of firms could either increase or decrease their technology adoption, depending on the direction of technical change and on which input markets are imperfectly competitive. I examine this relationship empirically in a setting that features both concentrated labor markets and a large technology shock: the introduction of mechanical cutters in the 19th century Illinois coal mining industry. Using a model of production and labor supply which is estimated with mine-level data, I find that oligopsony power over skilled miners reduced the usage of cutting machines, an unskill-biased technology. However, it would have increased the usage of counterfactual skill-biased and Hicks-neutral technologies.

How competitive were labor markets during the long 19th century, and how did labor market competition change throughout the industrialization process? To answer these questions, we estimate the `markdown'' wedge between the wage and marginal revenue product of labor in 227 Belgian coal firms from 1845 to 1913 using novel production and cost micro-data. We find evidence for moderate wage markdowns prior to the 1890s, and find that these were the result of wage-setting collusion between firms. Around the turn of the century, however, there was a strong and persistent increase in wage markdowns, which coincided with the introduction of a cartel. This had important consequences for the distribution of the productivity gains from industrialization between labor and capital. Before the cartel, wages grew at the same rate as the marginal labor product; afterwards, they grew merely half as fast.

Emily picks up a stone that looks like a cell phone but has unexpected magical powers. It''s a Spellstone! Now that she has become an unwilling Stonemaster—one who wields the power of the Stone—she has to figure out Spellstone technology fast if she is to survive a hair-raising adventure among giant dogs, demons, clones, mean girls, and deeply wicked people who want the Stone. A witty tale of a quiet girl who discovers she''s a hero when she needs to be. Stonemasters rule!

Ein unvergesslicher Sommer... Austin lässt sich mit dem falschen Mädchen ein, wird von deren Freund, dem daueraggressiven Todd, einen halben Kopf kürzer gemacht und muss die teure Mandoline seines Stiefvaters, die dabei zu Bruch geht, in Form eines nervtötenden Jobs abbezahlen. Und seine Mitschülerin Josephine, deren nerdigen Charme Austin unerwartet reizvoll findet, cancelt gleich nach der ersten Stunde den Nachhilfeunterricht, den Austin dringend braucht, um versetzt zu werden. Doch dann steht eines Tages Austins bislang totgeglaubter unbekannter Vater vor der Tür –kein anderer als sein Lieblingsmusiker, der Singer-Songwriter Shane Tyler. Austin pfeift auf Jobs, Nachhilfe usw und beginnt, mit Shane Musik zu machen, und auf einmal geht es aufwärts in Austins Leben – scheinbar...

Sixteen-year-old Austin is always messing up and then joking his way out of tough spots. The sudden appearance of his allegedly dead father, who happens to be the very-much-alive rock star Shane Tyler, stops him cold. Austin—a talented musician himself—is sucked into his newfound father’s alluring music-biz orbit, pulling his true love, Josephine, along with him. None of Austin’s previous bad decisions, resulting in broken instruments, broken hearts, and broken dreams, can top this one. Witty, audacious, and taking adolescence to the max, Austin is dragged kicking and screaming toward adulthood in this hilarious, heart-wrenching YA novel.

Isaac is preparing for his bar mitzvah when his older brother Josh, a self-proclaimed "Super Jew" and undefeated wrestler, forces him into a quest to become a man: shooting a gun, riding a motorcycle, playing pool, and falling in love . . . and that''s just the beginning.

In the spirit of Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett, The Sheriff of Yrnameer is sci-fi comedy at its best—mordant, raucously funny, and a thrilling page-turner. Meet Cole: hapless space rogue and part-time smuggler. His sidekick just stole his girlfriend. The galaxy’s most hideous and feared bounty hunter wants to lay eggs in his brain. And the luxury space yacht Cole just hijacked turns out to be filled with interstellar do-gooders, one especially loathsome stowaway, and a cargo of freeze-dried orphans. Cole gathers a misfit crew for a desperate journey to the far reaches of the galaxy: the mysterious world of Yrnameer, the very last of the “your-name-heres”—planets without corporate sponsors. But little does Cole suspect that this legendary utopia is home to a band of outlaws bent on destroying the planet’s tiny, peaceful community.