Maximisation of utility by a single consumer subject to a linear budget constraint is well known to imply strong restrictions on the properties of demand functions. Empirical applications to data on households however frequently reject these restrictions. In particular such data frequently show...

When analysing macroeconomic data it is often of relevance to allow for structural breaks in the statistical analysis. In particular, cointegration analysis in the presence of structural breaks could be of interest. We propose a cointegration model with piecewise linear trend and known break...

The growth process for a technological leader is different from that of a follower. While followers can grow through imitation and capital deepening, a leader must undertake original research. This suggests that as the gap between the leader and the follower narrows, the follower must undertake...

This study examines the response of oil contracts to extreme price movements. The chosen contract form is a Production-Sharing Agreement (PSA) which is the oil industry`s equivalent of sharecropping and one of the most commonly used contractual agreements. We show that only the two significant...

The single-agent smash and grab problem take the form Max_xU(x).h(x). The agent selects a target value (how much to grab). The probability that he will receive (get away with) x is h(x), the cumulative probability distribution of the maximum achievable level of x. Generalizations are developed...

Universities are a key institution in the US innovation system and an important aspect of their involvement is the role they play in Private-Public Partnering activities. This study seeks to gain a better understanding of the performance of university-industry research partnerships using a...

It has been argued that the institutions of the CFA Franc zone may have reduced inflation but that they also induced misalignment of the real exchange rate and that this is the explanation for their dismal revenue performance. This paper uses a panel of 22 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to...

This paper analyses the contract-posting equilibrium in a general equilibrium matching model of the labour market with on-the-job turnover. Privately optimal contracts have a rising wage-tenure profile, even when productivity is constant. The effect is to reduce equilibrium turnover; when jobs...

A positive correlation between relative position and the neurotransmitter serotonin exists in non-human primates, within an optimal range. This paper explores the reasons of this correlation. The main function of serotonin appears cognitive: it determines how optimally agents perceive and behave...

This paper introduces new data on climatic conditions to empirical tests of growth theories. We find that, since 1960, temperate countries have converged towards high levels of income while tropical nations have converged towards various income levels associated with economic scale and the...