In this paper we explore the relationship between the size of a country, the size of its cities, and the economic performance of the country. In order to do this we integrate three different literature, namely the literature on optimal country size, literature on historical processes of urbanisation and the performance of cities, and literature on the role of multinational firms in the global e...

A model with leisure production and endogenous retirement is used to explain the declining labor force participation rates of elderly males. The model is calibrated to cross-sectional data on the labor force participation rates of elderly US males by age, their median drop in market consumption and leisure good expenditure share in the year 2000. Running the calibrated model for the period 1850...

Strategic patenting is widely believed to raise the costs of innovating, especially in industries characterised by cumulative innovation. This paper studies the effects of strategic patenting on R&D, patenting and market value in the computer software industry. We focus on two key aspects: patent portfolio size which affects bargaining power in patent disputes, and the fragmentation of patent r...

Revolutionary Effects of New Information Technologies In markets with imperfect information and heterogeneity, the information technology affects the rate at which agents meet, which in turn affects the distribution of production technologies across firms. We show that in models for such markets there are typically multiple equilibria because reservation utility levels and the lowest production...

We study the location-specific component in research productivity of economics and finance faculty who have ever been affiliated with the top 25 universities in the last three decades. We find that there was a positive effect of being affiliated with an elite university in the 1970s; this effect weakened in the 1980s and disappeared in the 1990s. We decompose this university fixed effect and fi...

This study explores the importance of tacit knowledge transfer for international technology di¤usion by examining ethnic scienti…c communities in the US and their ties to their home countries. US ethnic research communities are quanti…ed by applying an ethnic-name database to individual patent records. International patent citations con…rm knowledge di¤uses through ethnic networks, and manufact...

We have developed an evolutionary game model, where agents can choose between two forms of social participation: interaction via online social networks and interaction by exclusive means of face-to-face encounters. We illustrate the societal dynamics that the model predicts, in light of the empirical evidence provided by previous literature. We then assess their welfare implications. We show th...

The paper investigates the differences between small, medium-sized and large firms regarding their performance in the introduction of new products and processes. After a review of the relevant literature, two models are proposed and tested in search for different business strategies and innovation inputs connected to product and process innovations. The empirical analysis uses innovation survey...

In this paper we develop a model with (1) differentiated consumers, (2) endogenous adoption times, (3) technical uncertainty, and (4) alternative technologies sponsored by competing vendors. We identify conditions under which orphaning arises endogenously in a framework of dynamic competition. We then use the model to examine the development of the microcomputer market in the early 1980s, when ...

This paper is primarily concerned with the impacts of population aging upon education and skill premium. To study population aging, we utilize an overlappinggeneration model where survival into the old stage is uncertain and population aging is modelled via a higher survival rate. Featuring the household, education and production sectors, our model is analysed under both autarky and two-country...