This paper studies the importance of incentives as a determinant of international trade flows. We argue that barter, countertrade and foreign direct investment can be seen as efficient institutions that mitigate contractual hazards which arise in technology trade, marketing and imperfect capital...

This article investigates the interaction between life insurance and long-term care insurance markets on the demand side. In the model utility depends on both consumption and bequest, and utility from consumption is contingent on the state of health. While the demand for life insurance increases...

This article analyzes the conditions under which the smaller of two otherwise identical countries prefers the noncooperative Nash equilibrium to a situation of fully harmonized tax rates. A standard two-country model of capital tax competition is extended by allowing for transaction costs,...

Based on a stochastic dynamic model of a firm’s optimal innovativebehavior we derive a simultaneous equation system for product andprocess innovations with intertemporal spillover effects. We estimatevarious versions of the model with dichotomous innovation data at thefirm level by using a...

Contingent ownership structures are prevalent in joint ventures. We offer an explanation based on the investment incentives provided by such an arrangement. We consider a holdup problem in which two parties make relationship-specific investments sequentially to generate a joint surplus in the...

Die Europäische Zentralbank (EZB) beginnt 1999 ihre Arbeit. Ihren Auftrag hat sie erhalten, die Mitglieder der Europäischen Währungsunion stehen fest. Dennoch sind einige wesentliche Fragen noch immer offen: Für welche geldpolitische Strategie soll sich die EZB entscheiden und wie kann sie...