This paper analyzes corporatism in a two-player game which integrates macroeconomic stabilization policy and a policy of social transfers. The government decides on the level of nominal social transfers, and the trade union decides on the nominal wage level. A central finding is that if one...

The paper considers a public authority wishing to carry out a major public project. As a result of competitive bidding the project is assigned to the firm with the lowest bid. The cost of the project is uncertain in the sense that it can be low or high. After the bidding process the firm...

This paper will be focused on two issues. Firstly, entrepreneurial innovative behaviour will be explained and, investigating the corresponding literature, it will also be concluded that innovation can reasonably be explained by patent behaviour. Secondly, because of the essential role of R&D...

In this paper we model competition between two publicly financed and identical universities deciding on quality and on admission standards. The education offered by the two universities is differentiated horizontally and vertically. If horizontal differentiation dominates, the Nash equilibrium...

In the recent economic literature the independence of the central bank is often considered to be one of the most effective guarantees to archieve price stability. A strong theoretical basis of this proposition is that the monetary policy delegation given to an independent central bank is an...

In this paper we analyze the optimal regulation of an internationally integrated monopolist, producing in one country and selling in another country. The monopolist’s pricing policy is constrained by transfer pricing regulations, and is subject to different tax rates on profits in the two...

In this paper we analyze how the presence of loyal versus variety seeking consumers affects manufacturers’ package decisions. Package decisions relate to the price of the package, the quantity of the commodity it contains, and the number of different varieties in it. We first study the optimal...

In this paper we study the taxation of car ownership, car use and public transport in the presence of externalities within the framework of a discrete/continuous choice model. We first derive optimal taxes in a simplified setting, emphasizing the specific role of fixed car ownership taxes and...

Social conflicts are a serious obstacle to economic growth in many Latin American societies, affecting economic activity both in the short- and the long-run. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, we develop a methodology to estimate the direct, short-run impact of frequently occurring...