This article examines the effects of knowledge sharing or endogenous spillovers among R&D consortia participants on R&D competition when R&D enhances a firm's absorptive capacity. A three-stage model illustrates how different compositions of R&D consortia affect endogenous spillover rates and...

This article identifies key factors that determine the profitability of Japanese firms abroad by using panel-data regression models on new, large-scale, subsidiary-level data over the 1990-1996 period. The results show that the determinants of subsidiary profits differ across host regions,...

Volume-outcome relationships are of clear importance for most participants in the health-care industry; research and appropriate policy implications are of critical importance. In this letter we critique the prevailing 'learning-by-doing' view in cardiac surgery. We illustrate the very wide...

The study explores the influence of domestic competition on international trade performance, using data from a broad sample of Japanese industries. Domestic rivalry is measured directly using marketshare instability rather than employing structural variables such as seller concentration. We find...

The existence of strong spillover' effects of private R&D increases the potential social contribution of R&D but may depress the private incentives to undertake it. R&D consortia offer a potentially effective means of internalizing this externality, and a number of prominent economists have...

We examine the impact of a large number of Japanese government-sponsored research consortia on the research productivity of participating firms by measuring their patenting in the targeted technologies before, during, and after participation. Consistent with the predictions of the theoretical...

This article examines competition in Japan and its link to postwar economic prosperity. While Japan's industrial structure and competition policy seem to indicate that competition in Japan has been less intense, the empirical evidence does not support this conclusion. The sectors in which...

Does an expansion of patent scope induce more innovative effort by firms? This article provides evidence on this question by examining firm responses to the Japanese patent reforms of 1988. Interviews with practitioners suggest the reforms significantly expanded the scope of patent rights in...