The paper questions the standard economic assumptions that competing economic agents have identical reservation utility levels, and that when differences in opportunity costs exit, they can be conveniently represented by fixed costs. Opportunity costs are endogenized by linking them to current...

The introduction of a centralized institution for trading production rights in quota-regulated agricultural sectors can dramatically improve the flow of information among market pareticipants and increase efficiency. On the other hand, prevailing conditions in these small markets can provide...

This description, produced within the CIRANO research program on productivity, seeks to unearth the innovative economic policies that could be adapted to the Quebec context. To better understand these innovations, the cases of Bavaria, Ireland, and New-Zealand were studied and lessons for Quebec...

This description, produced within the CIRANO research program on productivity, seeks to unearth the innovative economic policies that could be adapted to the Quebec context. To better understand these innovations, the case of Ireland was selected. Le but de cette vignette, faite dans le cadre du...

After presenting the history, the evolution and the content of innovation surveys, we discuss the characteristics of the data they contain and the challenge they pose to the analyst and the econometrician. We document the two uses that have been made of these data: the construction of...

his description, produced within the CIRANO research program on productivity, seeks to unearth the innovative economic policies that could be adapted to the Quebec context. To better understand these innovations, the case of Bavaria was selected. Le but de cette vignette, faite dans le cadre du...

his description, produced within the CIRANO research program on productivity, seeks to unearth the innovative economic policies that could be adapted to the Quebec context. To better understand these innovations, the case of New-Zealand was selected. Le but de cette vignette, faite dans le cadre...

This paper provides an empirical analysis of the relationship between the stringency of environmental regulation and total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the Quebec manufacturing sector. This allows us to investigate more fully the Porter hypothesis in three directions. First, the dynamic...

We consider the response to incentives as an explanation for productivity differences within a firm that paid its workers piece rates. We provide a framework within which observed productivity differences can be decomposed into two parts: one due to differences in ability and the other due to...

In this report, we estimate returns to training (in terms of wages and productivity) using data from the Workplace and Employee survey from 199-2004 and investigate whether these returns vary with age. Although we find that the returns to training on wages is fairly constant across all age...