This study uses an original data set, combining information for all collective agreements covering more than 500 employees signed in Quebec or Ontario from 1985 to 2007 and information on payroll taxes and other variables, to measure the incidence of an increase in payroll tax. The results of...

This paper looks at the effectiveness of R&D grants for Canadian plants that already benefit from R&D tax credits. Using a non-parametric matching estimator, we find that firms that benefited from both policy measures introduced more new products than their counterparts that only benefited from...

This study examines the effectiveness of R&D tax incentives using an unbalanced panel of 434 Canadian firms. Not all firms in the sample are R&D performers. A B-index summarizing the various tax incentives for R&D is constructed for each firm, taking into account individual ceilings in the use...

This paper proposes three analyses of the tradeoff mechanism between ecotax and carbon credit. Our wish is to compare the ecotax level with the carbon credit price, subject to the minimization of the cost inherent to emissions. We redefine the calculus equations of the firm profit, in which we...

Jaffe and Palmer (1997) present three distinct variants of the so-called Porter Hypothesis. The weak version of the hypothesis posits that environmental regulation will stimulate certain kinds of environmental innovations. The narrow version of the hypothesis asserts that flexible environmental...

Although they are often considered to be more flexible and adaptable than their larger counterparts, small and medium-sized firms now evolve in a rather uncertain environment which may, more than ever, impede their capacity to compete internationally. In this context, and in order for those...

The paper addresses the effect of technological progress on the frontiers of the firm, building on transaction cost theory and agency theory. The model incorporates four types of costs: production, coordination, management, and transaction costs. The market has lower production costs, but higher...

The analysis of organizational change and particularly of its impacts on incentives is neither simple nor easy. We consider here four contexts (choosing a level of decentralization, choosing the level of responsibility for pollution damage, choosing a level of technological or organisational...

This survey presents within a single model three theories of decentralization of decision-making within organizations based on private information and incentives. Renegotiation, collusion, and limits on communication are three sufficient conditions for decentralization to be optimal. Cet article...

Why do larger corporations have more layers in their hierarchy? My contention in this paper is that hierarchies arise because economic agents have limited ability to anticipate and ascertain every possible contingency they are faced with. As a result, the complete contract may become too complex...