Good to hear from you even in snark master mode. Still you make a fine point. That was a remnant from the working paper status where I think it makes sense. I will update the version on there.

One thing some folks have been discussing is when does SSRN work well for working papers. Put differently, is SSRN becoming a place where only fully finished pieces are circulated?

Deven

I began reading your paper after downloading it from ssrn, but when I reached the legend proclaiming “DRAFT – DO NOT CITE OR CIRCULATE WITHOUT PERMISSION” I decided to stop. It was, I concluded, better to remain ignorant than to risk obtaining knowledge that I could not even cite too in my own scholarship.

These legends are the academic equivalent of the Major League Baseball warnings – and they make about as much sense.

If I had been able to read you article I might now observe some irony between your general theme and the application of the odious “DRAFT – DO NOT CITE OR CIRCULATE WITHOUT PERMISSION”. However, as I feared such an observation might amount to a citation, I decided to merely assume the contents of your paper and write this comment without the benefit of having read it.

Please feel free to cite and circulate this comment.

Matthew Sag