Economic experiments interact with economic theories in various ways. First of all they are used to test economic theories. However, they can neither confirm nor falsify them in a strict sense. They rather inform us about the range of applicability, the robustness and the predictive power of a...

Mit der geplanten Dienstrechtsreform, die von Edelgard Bulmahn, Bundesministerin für Bildung und Forschung, vorgestellt wird, sollen Hochschullehrer in Zukunft leistungsorientiert entlohnt und für junge Nachwuchswissenschaftler bessere Arbeitsbedingungen geschaffen werden. Für Hans Zehetmair,...

The paper analyzes the canonical hold-up model of Hart and Moore (1988) under the assumption that the courts can verify delivery of the good by the seller. We show that the first best can be achieved using simple "option contracts" which give the seller the right to decide whether or not trade...

Der Aufsatz gibt zunächst einen kurzen Überblick über die Entwicklung des Marktes für Wagniskapital in den USA und in Deutschland. Dann wird gezeigt, mit welchen besonderen Anreiz- und Vertragsproblemen die Finanzierung von Innovationen zu kämpfen hat und welche neuen Instrumente von der...

In this paper we investigate the pricing incentives of IP holders and compare the equilibrium royalty rates charged by vertically integrated IP holders with those of non- integrated IP holders. We show that under many circumstances non-integrated companies are likely to charge lower royalties...

This paper offers a new explanation for the prevalent use of convertible securities in venture capital finance. Convertible securities can be used to endogenously allocate cash flow rights as a function of the realized quality of the project. This property can be used to mitigate the double...

Many high technology goods are based on standards that require access to several patents that are owned by different IP holders. We investigate the royalties chosen by IP holders under different market structures. Vertical integration of an IP holder and a downstream producer solves the double...

The paper surveys recent results of auction theory, bargaining theory and political economy in order to compare different methods of privatization. We assume that a government is not only interested in maximizing revenues from privatization, but also in achieving an efficient allocation of...

The privatization process in Eastern Europe is not irreversible. Future governments may want to expropriate successful private firms by increasing taxation or by renationalizing them in order to subsidize unsuccessful firms. The paper uses a simple median voter model to predict the policy of...

This Paper discusses the economic merits of direct or indirect governmental support for open source projects. Software markets differ from standard textbook markets in three important respects that may give rise to market failures: (i) large economies of scale, (ii) crucially important...