Technological dualism often is found to be associated with the geographical clustering of firms that use the same techniques. To shed further light on these localization phenomena, we analyze the long-run dynamic behavior of a system in which firms' choices among alternative production methods...

[eng] Reference standard, transaction costs and the economics of quality : a framework . In this paper, I try to explore the analytical relationships between reference standards, transaction costs and the economics of quality. The paper focuses, first on a comparative assessment of the...

[eng] The presentation of particular stylized facts on technical change - as involving two modes of learning (from diversity and from standardization) - introduces an original analysis of the problems raised by the tension between diversity and standardization. Both economic values of diversity...

[eng] This paper explores the theoretical options and the main orientations of the « competing technologies » model of B. Arthur and P. David. Under increasing returns, competition between n technologies can lock-in in to monopoly of one of the n technologies. The model shows also that each...