The present paper aims at examining the role of variety in the ski manufacturing industry and its relevance in firms' price setting strategies. In particular, it intends to investigate and empirically test two hypotheses concerning the relation between variety and prices. The first concerns the...

This paper presents a History Friendly Model which addresses the issue of the bifurcation in technological styles" between US and Britain during the nineteenth century. The model aims at gaining a better understanding of the micro-dynamics that gave rise to different patterns of innovation in...

This paper empirically analyzes the determinants of demand in the German automobile industry. Our primary goal is to refine the existing literature on that topic by exploring the impact of uniqueness seeking behaviour of individuals on the demand schedule. Using a dataset on the segment of...

In this paper we propose a new mental representation of how markets, technology and their interaction concur in explaining the why of a certain innovation instead of another. We empirically test this theory in the telecommunication switches industry. We consider innovation as a new alignment of...

We study the impact of demand on innovation. By focusing on a sample of small- and medium-sized enterprises in several industries and European countries, we analyse how demand stimulates innovation by providing economic incentives and reducing uncertainty. Considering the size of the market as a...

Probabilistic graphical models successfully combine probability with graph theory and therefore provide applied statisticians with a powerful data mining engine. Graphical models are a good framework for formal analysis, allowing the researcher to obtain a quick overview of the structure of...

This paper provides new empirical evidence about the impact of various technological policies upon firms’ innovative behaviour. We take into consideration the role of policies for innovative activities and we focus on their interaction. While supply-side policies such as R&D subsidies and tax...

This paper discusses the extent to which sociodemographic characteristics of consumers and their past consumption are less effective in explaining the decision of purchasing a cultural good than the characteristics of the product itself, which allow for imitative behaviors and are at the basis...

Scientific breakthroughs coming from universities can contribute to the emergence of new industries, such as in the case of biotechnology. Obviously, not all research conducted in universities leads to a radical change from existing technological trajectories. Patents and patent dynamics have...

This paper presents a History Friendly Model which addresses the issue of the bifurcation in "technological styles" between US and Britain during the nineteenth century. The model aims at gaining a better understanding of the micro-dynamics that gave rise to different patterns of innovation in...