Europe’s lackluster capacity to generate growth and particularly productivity growth is for a significant part attributable to a subdued capacity to innovate. Policies aimed at boosting growth through research and development have not delivered. Private R&D intensity remains to date low (and...

This paper presents a critical survey of the literature on the determinants of patent value. The contributions to the literature are essentially two-fold. First, significant inconsistencies across existing studies are underlined. Second, a sensitivity analysis shows strong dependencies of...

The impact of subsidies on the efficiency of microfinance institutions (MFIs) is a key question in the field, given the large volume of subsidies received over the last twenty years. Using an original database of rating agencies, this paper gives empirical evidence on the impact of subsidy...

Many nations have undergone significant trade liberalization even as they have increased their use of contingent protection measures. This raises the question of whether some of the trade liberalization efforts, at times accomplished through painful reforms, have been undone through a...

Linear models with stable error densities are considered, and their local asymptotic normality with respect to the regression parameter is established. We use this result, combined with Le Cam's third lemma, to obtain local powers and asymptotic relative efficiencies for various classical rank...

In this paper, we study the evolution of the Prussian technical higher education system and analyse how it is affected by (and how it reacted to) the economic dynamic. We particularly stress the micro-foundations of institutional change, i.e. we analyse how the individual behaviour of the actors...