I develop a model of R&D cooperation with uncertain research outcomes. In this model asymmetric outcomes of R&D competition emerge naturally. Therefore ex-ante and ex-post R&D cooperation can be studied as alternatives for firms. Using this model I compare welfare losses under ex-ante and ex-post R&D cooperation as the degree of product market competition varies. It emerges that the relative si...

Market Imperfections and Firm-Sponsored Training Recent human capital theories predict that labor market frictions and product market competition influence firm-sponsored training. Using matched worker-firm data from Dutch manufacturing, our paper empirically assesses the validity of these predictions. We find that a decrease in labor market frictions significantly reduces firms’ training expen...

We analyze competition in product lines by multi-product oligopolists. The firms are assumed to have preferential access to a local market but can supply the rival’s market by incurring distance or product adaptation costs. We show that the width and degree of overlap in the product lines chosen by these firms is greater in large markets and when the products being offered are viewed by consume...

Policy makers in Europe have been concerned that lack of product market competition have led productivity to lag behind the US. Theoretical models are ambiguous about the direction of the effect that product market competition should have on productivity. On the one hand increasing competition lowers firm’s profits and thus reduces incentives to exert effort (the Schumpeterian effect), on the o...

This paper examines competition in e-markets by comparing price levels and price dispersion in the on-line music market. The data consists of price information on CDs pure-play Internet and hybrid firms in North American and European markets. The sellers are divided in groups according to a geographical location, a brand valuation and a variety of product offerings. We find that pure price leve...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate empirically the existence of interindustry differences in the capital structure and product market competition of corporations listed in Tehran Stock Exchange. We study an balanced panel dataset of 603 firm-year observations in 8 industries from 2001 to 2009. The technique used for this is one way analysis of variance. Employing this parametric method...