We rationalize a special type of sharing information which can typically be found in markets for occupational disability insurances. There, firms share information about acceptances and rejections of an applicant. We set up a multiple-step signalling model with uninformed agents and endogenize...

This paper develops a three-stage model of innovation, fixed-fee licensing and production to evaluate the welfare effects of compulsory licensing, taking into account both static (information sharing) and dynamic (innovation incentive) effects. Compulsory licensing is shown to have an...

This article analyzes the effects of intellectual property rights protection on innovation in a quality-ladder model in which part of the consumers value being the exclusive consumers of the newest generation of a good. In the case of a monopoly innovator, we show that reducing IP protection can...

The objective of this study is to investigate the relation between increasing Chinese high-tech exports and the technological capabilities of Chinese companies. China s recent innovation policy provides substantial incentives for companies to pursue technological upgrading and...

Even though most countries have agreed to a harmonization of intellectual property rights by signing the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), there is still much dispute about the optimal level of protection of intellectual property rights in the world....

We exploit a policy change in Sweden to estimate the effect of copayments on the demand for children's and adolescents' usage of medical care. To this end, we use population-wide registry data including detailed characteristics of individuals and their medical visits. We examine whether the...

Optimal voting rules have to be adjusted to the underlying distribution of preferences. However, in practice there usually is no social planner who can perform this task. This paper shows that the introduction of a stage at which agents may themselves choose voting rules according to which they...

Motivated by trying to better understand the norms that govern pedestrian traffic, I study symmetric two-player coordination games with independent private values. The strategies of "always pass on the left" and "always pass on the right" are always equilibria of this game. Some such games,...

This paper studies the influence of shared guilt and diffused responsibility in institutions that may require the support of several actors to realize specific outcomes. Decision makers weigh supporting an immoral yet egoistically advantageous action to the detriment of a third party against...