This paper considers education investment and public education policy in closed and open economies with an extortionary government. The extortionary government in a closed economy chooses an education policy in order to overcome a hold-up problem of time-consistent taxation similar to benevolent governments. The two types of government differ in their education policies if highly productive lab...

Using detailed survey data on broiler growers, we tested for the existence of hold-up problems in industry Jiangsu Province, China. We found that growers’ investments chicken houses, which are assets with a high degree physical and location specificity, increased along number potential buyers (integrators) nearby. Such an effect was particularly strong proximity to leading buyers. These results...