This discussion paper has resulted in a publication in the <A href="http://aa4pq3kw5l.search.serialssolutions.com/directLink?&atitle=Economics%3A%20An%20Emerging%20Small%20World&author=Sanjeev%20Goyal%3B%20Marco%20J%20van%20der%20Leij%3B%20José%20Luis%20Moraga%2DGonzález&issn=00223808&title=The%20Journal%20of%20Political%20Economy&volume=114&issue=2&date=20060401&spage=403&id=doi:&sid=ProQ_ss&genre=article&lang=en">'Journal of Political Economy'</A>.<P>This paper examines the small world hypothesis. The first part of the paper presents empirical evidence on the evolution of a particular world: the world of journal publishing economists during the period...</p></a>

This paper exploits micro firm level data to examine the impact of spatial clustering and links to foreign buyer networks on firm performance in the wood furniture industry in Central Java, Indonesia. The analysis is based on an annual manufacturing survey. We identify the impact of...

We model entrepreneurship and the emergence of firms as a result of simultaneous bidding for labor services among heterogeneousagents. Unique to our approach is that occupational choices, jobmatching and organizational forms are determined simultaneously, sothat the opportunity costs of...

See also the article 'Mean and bold: on separating merger economies from structural efficiency gains in the drinking water sector' 2010, <I>The Journal of the Operational Research Society</I>, 61, 222-34.<P> The Dutch drinking water sector experienced two drastic changes over the last 10 years. Firstly,...</p></i>

We develop a new perspective on the boundary of the firm that is consistent with the empirical observation that the share of entrepreneurs first decreases and then increases in the course of economic development. Existing theory based on transaction costs is difficult to relate to these...

Promoting investments in energy saving technologies is an important means forachieving environmental goals. Unfortunately, the empirical evidence on successconditions of policies isscarce. Based on a survey among Dutch firms, this paper sets out to identify thefactors that determine the...

This discussion paper resulted in an article in 'Games and Economic Behavior' (2014). Volume 85, pages 289-305.<P> In this laboratory experiment we study the use of strategic ignorance to delegate real authority within a firm. A worker can gather information on investment projects, while a manager...</p>

This study analyses 1400 research projects of the top 20 R&D-spending pharmaceuticals to identify the determinants of successful research projects. We provide clear evidence that externally sourced projects and projects involving biotechnologies perform better than internal projects and chemical...

To achieve sustainable economic growth in transition countries, it is crucial that enterpriseperformance is improved. However, it is not a priori clear which factors are essential for this. ForRussia, data to investigate the potential determinants of enterprise performance is scarce.Therefore,...

This paper provides an overview of the work of Herbert Simon and his ideas about rational decision making. By his own standards, Simon is an economist who works in the tradition of Adam Smith and Alfred Marshall. The central theme in Simon’s research is how human beings organize themselves in...