Selling Point
AI and the Quantity and Quality of Creative Products: Have LLMs Boosted Creation of Valuable Books?
Imke Reimers & Joel Waldfogel
NBER Working Paper, January 2026
Abstract:
With the diffusion of LLMs between 2022 and 2025, new book releases have tripled, raising a question of AI's impact on book quality. We develop a ratings-based usage measure that is comparable across book release vintages, and we find that the vintages from the AI influx period have lower average quality. Yet, the top 1,000 monthly releases per category — albeit not the top 100 — have higher quality than before; and the effect is larger in categories with faster growth in new titles. Authors entering since the LLM influx produce predominantly low-quality work; and the higher-quality output of pre-LLM authors entrants has risen. A nested logit calibration shows that LLM-enhanced book production could, in steady state, raise the surplus that consumers derive from book markets by a quarter to a half.
What Problem Do Intermediaries Solve? Evidence From Real Estate Markets
Darren Aiello, Mark Garmaise & Taylor Nadauld
Review of Financial Studies, February 2026, Pages 562-604
Abstract:
We study intermediation in the housing market. Using data from an online platform utilized by real estate agents to generate leads, we identify exogenous intermediary attention arising from the quasi-randomized ordering of potential listings. Greater intermediary attention leads to an increased probability of listing with an agent and selling quickly, and a higher transaction price. The listing and transaction probabilities of neighboring properties decrease in intermediary attention. These results contrast sharply with endogenous correlations and provide causal evidence that intermediaries resolve property-level frictions deriving from search, information, or behavioral considerations but do not mitigate neighborhood-level information asymmetries.
Do as essay, not as I do? How inflated list prices of unsold essayer homes affect the price discovery process
Michael Seiler & Ralph Siebert
Real Estate Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
In the United States real estate market, around 30% of listed properties remain unsold. Moreover, these unsold properties are typically listed far above fair market value (8.1%). We examine the extent to which overpriced property listings exert externalities on list and sale prices in the residential housing market. Our results show that overpriced listings exert spillover effects that distort and inflate housing prices. They increase other properties' list prices, on average, by $39,086 (5.3%) and increase sale prices by $35,688 (5%). We also find that the extent of over-pricing depends on the economic environment, specifically, overpricing is higher (lower) during booms (busts).
Natural disasters and housing prices: What can we learn from tornadoes?
Jeffrey Cohen & Violeta Gutkowski
Real Estate Economics, forthcoming
Abstract:
The impact of tornadoes on housing prices has not been extensively explored in a causal analysis framework. We estimate the effects of damage from a major tornado in Little Rock, Arkansas, on prices of nearby undamaged homes. We study how a typical home's proximity to damaged properties might have led to a discount in its price due to severe blight in the neighborhood. We focus on homes that sold between January 2022 and August 2024 and compare the effects of the March 31, 2023, tornado on sale prices for homes near versus far from damaged properties. For all home sales within 250 m of at least one tornado-damaged property, our difference-in-differences estimates imply an average discount of approximately 20% relative to home sales further away. These effects disappear with greater distance from the nearest damaged property. Second, homes in lower income census block groups did not incur price effects that were significantly different from the effects for other homes. Finally, we show that the impact was short-lived on average, as we find no significant price discount on homes sold near or far from damaged properties 9 months after the tornado.
How do Foundations Help Charities (Beyond Giving them Money)?
Daniel Hungerman, Teresa Harrison & Sherry Li
NBER Working Paper, January 2026
Abstract:
Foundations are a rapidly growing source of charitable support, yet their effects on nonprofits remain poorly understood. We study applicants to a $100 million funding competition whose sponsoring foundation subsequently offered publicity, networking, and advice to a subset of unsuccessful entrants. This support substantially improved later fundraising for smaller charities. Our estimates indicate that the foundation's support generated over $40 million in income in the years following the competition. These findings offer novel evidence of how large donors can influence nonprofit success even without awarding funds, and show how funding competitions might be structured to help charities raise additional resources.