The welfare state provides universal insurance for workers against accidents in the workplace. In equilibrium, this insurance does not generate adverse safety incentives to firms. Noninternalized insurance makes workers sort themselves nonoptimally to firms and choose higher individual effort...

We explore optimal search for individual improvement when agents start with different confidence in their own ability. The initial self-confidence may be determined by nature or socioeconomic factors. Presuming Bayesian learning, we show that final achievements depend positively on initial...

Explanations of technological diffusion focus on information being spread by epidemic processes, on profit heterogeneity, or oligopolistic competition. The model in this paper integrates the epidemic and the heterogeneity-based approaches. Predictions are tested on Norwegian data concerning the...