We present results from a laboratory study of loss aversion in the context of intertemporal choice. We investigate whether the provision of (windfall) endowments results in different elicited discount rates relative to subjects who earn income or earn and retain the income for a period before...

The paper assesses the possibilities for rent generation in the North Sea herring fishery. A bioeconomic model combining fish population dynamics with the economic structure of the fishery is used in rent calculations. The model combines biological data with vessel-level economic data for UK...

In the early 1970s, the herring stocks in the Northeast Atlantic were nearly fished to extinction. This collapse is usually attributed to technological advances in the fishery, particularly the introduction of the echo sounder and the power block. In this paper we investigate the empirical...

Does trade within a country affect welfare and productivity? What are the magnitude and consequences of costs to such trade? To answer these questions, we exploit unique Canadian data to measure internal trade costs in a variety of ways – they are large, and vary across sectors and...

This paper offers an economic rationale for compulsory licensing of needed medicines in developing countries. The patent system is based on a trade-off between the “deadweight losses†caused by market power and the incentive to innovate created by increased profits from monopoly...

We investigate the origins of identity and the innate proclivity to draw a distinction between "insiders" and "outsiders".We propose an evolutionary explanation: we argue that identity arises because it facilitates survival. In an evolutionary setting we endogenize preferences and demonstrate...

The WTO inspired strengthening of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in developing countries remains highly controversial even 15 years after the 1994 TRIPs agreement. This paper employs both theory and empirics to assess how a strengthening of IPRs affects international technology diffusion by...