This paper studies the choice of organizational forms in a multi-task principal-agent model. We compare a functional organization in which the firm is organized into functional departments such as marketing and R&D to a product-based organization in which the firm is organized into product...

Despite the increasing importance of and huge growth in SSOs and the flurry of research on the economics of SSOs in the last decade, no comprehensive review of the literature exists. Such an undertaking is beyond the scope of this paper. Here, we address a more modest goal: a selective review...

A national authority wishes to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to create local jobs. We analyse the optimal national trade policy when local authorities might offer subsidies to convince a multi-national enterprise (MNE) to invest in their jurisdiction. With centralised decision-making...

Innovative activities often are heavily regulated. Reviews conducted by administrative agencies take time and are not perfectly accurate. Of particular concern is whether, by design or not, such agencies discriminate against more important innovations by taking more time to perform their...

This paper analyses the impact of inequality on growth when technical progress is driven by innovations. It is assumed that consumers have hierarchic preferences. As a result inequality affects demand and therefore the incentive to innovate. Whether more inequality is harmful or beneficial for...

The current Paper addresses the relationship between trade and endogenous pollution levels. The main focus is quite different from the previous literature. The mechanism linking pollution and trade is that trade provides the home government with a credible threat that helps motivate domestic...

We study a two-country model where two firms, one domestic and the other foreign, must decide when to introduce their new product into the market. The home government may apply an import tariff, an administrative delay or both to the product of the foreign firm. An administrative delay imposes a...

This article examines licensing as a means of choosing the competitors which a patentee-monopolist will face in the period after the patent expires. The queue of entrants consists of two firms which differ in their relative "strengths" as competitors (for example, by size or level of marginal...

Knowledge exchange, innovation policy, and international trade flows are key aspects of the knowledge-based economy. In her introduction to the special issue on The Knowledge-Based Society: Transition, Geography, and Competition Policy the author briefly reviews these aspects. She begins with...