This paper explores economically meaningful forms of cost functions for process research and development in the presence of imperfect appropriability of inventive output. We propose, as a central criterion to be satisfied by the knowledge production process, that a given R&D investment should...

Should two–band income taxes be progressive given a general income distribution? We provide a negative answer under utilitarian and max-min welfare functions. While this result clarifies some ambiguities in the literature, it does not rule out progressive taxes in general. If we maximize total...