Merger activity is intense during economic booms and subdued during recessions. This paper provides a non-financial explanation for this observable pattern. We construct a model in which the target - by setting the takeover price - screens the acquirer on his (expected) ability to realize...

This paper studies the macroeconomic implications of firm-branding activities. We show empirically that firms build market share by creating new brands, developing their existing brands, and buying established brands from other firms. Sales and prices of the underlying branded products tend to...

We build on the imperfection of intellectual property rights as the central motivation for the organization of firms. There are several characteristics specific to a theory of the firm grounded on the absence of intellectual property rights: monetary incentive schemes arise naturally as a...

Theory as well as empirics suggest that both the level and the volatility of uncertainty impact important economic variables. There is a need to extend models of uncertainty to the volatility of uncertainty. We analyse the dynamics of the Economic Policy Uncertainty index developed by (Baker et...

We examine associations of mass media and information and communicationstechnologies (ICT) as knowledge-based infrastructures on some economicdevelopment outcomes. We .nd that several mass media and ICT penetration variablesare negatively associated with three development outcomes: corruption,...

Systemic economic transition is a process of determined radical institutional change, a process of building new institutions required by a market economy. Nowadays, the experience of transition countries with the implementation of new institutions could be reviewed as a method of economic...

This paper documents several stylized facts on the real effects of economic uncertainty. First, higher uncertainty is associated with a more dispersed and negatively skewed distribution of output growth. Second, the response of economic growth to an increase in uncertainty is highly nonlinear...

The internet has gained popularity in recent years. It provides a lot of useful information to all countries, both the rich and the ones that might be classed as economically backwards. While our predecessors could only obtain information by reading printed books and magazines, which can be...