There are industries that tend to remain monopolized, with successive generations of a good being introduced by an incumbent monopolist. This paper investigates the tendency of persistent leadership in durable goods industry. In particular it explores the implications of the durability of a good...

Some industries support Schumpeter's notion of creative destruction through innovative entrants. Others exhibit a single, persistent technological leadership. This paper explores a durable-goods monopolist threatened by entry via a new generation of the durable good. It is shown that the...

The paper offers a new theoretical framework to examine the role of intermediaries between creators and users of new inventions. We find that uncertainty about the profitability of investing in new inventions generates a basis for intermediation. An intermediary may provide an opportunity to...

We introduce product differentiation into the analysis of price competition in markets where suppliers test customers in order to assess whether they will pay for received goods or services. We find that, if the degree of differentiation is sufficiently high, suppliers may improve the average...

This paper has four major objectives. The first is to emphasize the fundamental but mostly overlooked role of instrumentation and experimental technique in linking basic and applied research. The second is to provide an overview of the major economic effects of basic research investments. The...

This paper explores a dynamic model of product innovation, extending the work of Dutta, Lach, and Rustichini (1995). It is shown that if R&D costs for quality improvements are low, the dynamic competition is structured as a race for being the pioneer firm with payoff equalization in equilibrium,...