Kippeum Lee

Kippeum Lee

Ph.D. candidate in Economics

The Pennsylvania State University

About me

Hello! I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Economics at the Pennsylvania State University. My research interests are the areas of Industrial Organization and Econometrics. I have recently worked on the estimation of knowledge spillovers and network formation in the U.S. interfirm R&D collaborations .

I will be on the job market for the 2023-24 academic year.

My CV is available here. Reach me at kul598@psu.edu.

Interests
  • Industrial organization
  • Econometrics
  • Applied microeconomics
Education
  • Ph.D. in Economics (expected), 2024

    The Pennsylvania State University

  • M.A. in Economics, 2018

    Korea University

  • B.S. in Economics, 2015

    Korea University

Research

Working papers

  1. Strategic Network Decisions and Knowledge Spillovers: Evidence from R&D Collaborations of U.S. Firms (JMP)
  2. Abstract

    This paper examines the effect of private R&D investment on productivity, considering R&D collaborations and knowledge spillovers. While existing literature emphasizes R&D’s direct effects on innovation and cost reduction, it often neglects R&D's role in shaping collaborative networks. Investing in R&D enhances a firm's learning capacity and augments the firm's appeal as a collaboration partner. Consequently, the effect of R&D is underestimated without accounting for its role in fostering collaborations. To bridge the gap, I develop a dynamic model of a firm that internalizes its decision on whom to collaborate with and following spillovers. This framework allows R&D to improve productivity and affect the collaboration network, with varying propensities for collaborations across firms. Using the data on firm-to-firm R&D collaborations among U.S. firms from 1980 to 2001, I find the long-term effect of R&D is 16% underestimated if we ignore its subsidiary role in expanding the collaboration network.

  3. Joint Bidding, Information Sharing, and the Winner's Curse in First-Price Common Value Auctions, with Jimin Oh
  4. Abstract

    In a first-price common value auction, bidders tend to bid less aggressively in consideration of the winner's curse, especially when competition, limited information, or high risks are involved. Joint bidding alleviates these problems and potentially benefits a seller by relieving the winner's curse and encouraging more aggressive bidding. The analysis on joint bidding is important for a government to ban or allow joint bidding in procurement auctions with common value features. However, there is little empirical evidence of that. In this paper, we study joint bidding behavior and its impacts on bids and the winner's curse using the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) auctions from 1954 to 1975. We provide reduced-form evidence that joint bidding leads to bid amounts 21.2% higher on average by introducing novel instruments leveraging a new dataset of firms' office addresses recorded in lease contract agreements and the history of joint bidding. We further develop a structural model that allows asymmetry in bidders---joint and solo types, revealing that solo bidders experience a more substantial winner’s curse relative to joint bidders.

Work in progress

  1. Identification and Estimation of Network Intensity, with Sinjeong Kim

Teaching

The Pennsylvania State University (Instructor)

  • Introduction to Econometrics (Undergraduate), Summer 2022

The Pennsylvania State University (TA)

  • Econometrics (PhD) for J. Pinkse, Spring 2022 - Fall 2022
  • Econometrics (PhD) for P. Guggenberger, Fall 2021
  • Economic Forecasting (Undergraduate) for K. Hirano, Spring 2021
  • Money and Banking (Undergraduate) for R. Chuderewicz, Fall 2018 - Fall 2020

Korea University (TA)

  • Micro-econometrics (Graduate) for M.J. Lee, Fall 2017
  • Econometrics I (Undergraduate) for M.J. Lee, Spring 2017