This paper presents a critical overview of some recent attempts at building formal models of organizations as information-processing and problem-solving entities. We distinguish between two classes of models according to two distinct objects of analysis. The first class includes models mainly...

An essential aspect of "catching up" by developing countries is the emulation of technological leaders and the rapid accumulation by individuals and organizations of the knowledge and capabilities needed in order to sustain processes of technical learning. The rates and patterns of development...

Diverse theories of industry dynamics predict heterogeneity in production efficiency to be the driver of firms' growth, survival, and industrial change, either through a direct link between efficiency and growth, or through an indirect effect via profitabilities, as more productive firms can...

This work introduces a special issue of the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization on the emergence and impact of market institutions in wholesale fish markets. The analysis of fish markets has a respectable pedigree also in terms of the description of how they function. A major advantage...

In this work we analyze the characteristics and dynamics of organi- zations wherein members diverge in terms of capabilities and visions they hold, and interests which they pursue. How does society put together such distributed and possibly coflicting knowledge? The question is "Hayekian" in its...

No abstract.

In recent years, Intellectual Property Rights - both in the form of patents and copyrights - have expanded in their coverage, the breadth and depth of protection, and the tightness of their enforcement. Moreover, for the first time in history, the IPR regime has become increasingly uniform at...

This paper investigates the firm-level dynamics of labour productivity in China's manufacturing sector over the period 1998-2007. Underlying the aggregate evidence of a dramatic growth of labour productivity, one observes a large, even if shrinking, intra-sectoral heterogeneity. A major process...