This paper develops a sequential game theoretic model of heterogeneous producers to examine the effect of cooperative involvement on process innovation activity in the agricultural input-supplying sector. Analytical results show that the involvement of an open-membership cooperative in process...

This paper develops a sequential game theoretic model of heterogeneous producers to examine the effect of co-operative involvement on innovation activity in the agricultural input-supplying sector. Analytical results show that the co-operative involvement in R&D can be welfare enhancing and,...

The purpose of this article is to examine the effect of cognitive dissonance in a mixed oligopoly where a local cooperative competes with an investor-owned firm (IOF) for the local market. The article explicitly incorporates individuals' beliefs regarding the quality of the two organizations as...

Patents provide very important incentives for innovative activity by enabling innovators to appropriate innovation rents through the granting of exclusive rights on their innovations. The limit of these exclusive rights is defined by two elements - patent length and patent breadth. Patent length...

The paper examines jointly the decision to patent, the optimal patent breadth decision and how these decisions affect, and are affected by, the innovator's ability to enforce her patent rights. A key result is that patenting may occur even when invoking an infringement trial is not profitable...

The paper examines the relationship between the innovator's patenting and patent breadth decisions as well as how these two decisions affect, and are affected by, the innovator's ability to enforce her patent rights. An important feature of the model is that the entrant may be able, by his...

Carbon offset markets have been suggested as a cost effective means of reducing GHG emissions. This paper develops a model of heterogeneous emitters and producers to examine the consequences of non-compliance on the performance of the carbon-offset market. The analysis begins with the derivation...

In this paper, we show formally that cooperatives can possess an informational - and hence cost - advantage compared to For Profit Firms. This advantage is directly linked to the goal alignment between the cooperative and its members, and is influenced by the extent of income redistribution...

Innovating firms choose to patent their innovations when patenting allows the appropriation of more rents than do other forms of intellectual property protection (e.g., trade secrecy). The level of innovation rents that can be captured by the patent is mainly determined by the breadth of patent...

This paper introduces enforcement costs and farmer misrepresentation into the economic analysis of decoupled area payments. When enforcement is costly, complete deterrence of cheating is never optimal from an economic perspective. Misrepresentation changes the welfare effects of the policy...