This is an important and ambitious book but its timing could not be more unfortunate. It is the result of a two year research project co-sponsored by the Economic Development Institute (EDI) at the World Bank and by the Center for Economic Policy Research at Stanford University. The contributors...

A principal uses security bid auctions to award an incentive contract to one among several agents, in the presence of hidden action and hidden information. Securities range from cash to equity and call options. “Steeper†securities are better surplus extractors that narrow the gap...

We consider a licensing mechanism for process innovations that combines a license auction with royalty contracts to those who lose the auction. Firms’ bids are dual signals of their cost reductions: the winning bid signals the own cost reduction to rival oligopolists, whereas the losing...

The literature on license auctions for process innovations in oligopoly assumed that the auctioneer reveals the winning bid and stressed that this gives firms an incentive to signal strength through their bids, to the benefit of the innovator. In the present paper we examine whether revealing...

Indian economic development in the recent period has attracted both favourable and unfavourable attention abroad. The development community including academics and activists regards the record of the Indian economy during the last twenty years as being extremely good by international standards....

Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between information technology and the capital markets. The central analytical and policy question addressed here is what kind of financial system or capital market arrangements are most conducive to fostering information technology and its use...