In this paper, we undertake an in-depth inquiry into the nature of sharing externalities, and study how they affect the market outcome. We show that the key thing for understanding sharing externalities is the interplay between two forces: the specialization/complexity effect, on the one hand,...

This paper answers the following two questions: 1) In the data, can we find a dilution effect of population growth also on per-capita human capital investment? If yes, 2) how can we use this fact to explain theoretically the existence of a differential impact of population change on economic...

In this paper we build an endogenous growth model where human capital and ideas are complements in the long-run equilibrium and technological progress takes the form of a continuous increase in the number of horizontally differentiated varieties of intermediate inputs. One peculiarity of the...

Using a vertical differentiation model of endogenous growth with stochastic R&D activity, we characterise the optimal patent lifetime a government would set in order to maximise economic growth. We show that a finite patent lifetime does exist and is unique provided that the expected rate of...

We analyze the effects of children's health on human capital accumulation and on long-run economic growth. For this purpose we design an R&D-based growth model in which the stock of human capital of the next generation is determined by parental education and health investments. We show that i)...

Fertility rates have declined dramatically across almost all highincome countries over the past decades. This has raised concerns about future economic prospects. Indeed, fully- and semi-endogenous growth models imply that a shrinking workforce would lead to declining income growth and perhaps...