Software can be distributed closed source (proprietary) or open source (developed collaboratively). While a firm cannot sell open source software, and so loses potential sales revenue, the open source software development process can have a substantial positive impact on the quality of a...

We develop an endogenous growth model featuring environmental externalities, abatement R&D, and market imperfections. We compare the economic performances under three distinct regimes that encompass public abatement, private abatement without tax recycling, and private abatement with tax...

This paper models the gold standard as a state contingent commitment technology that is only feasible during peace. Monetary policy during war, when the gold convertibility rule is suspended, can still be credible, if the policymaker's plan is to resume the gold standard in the future. The DSGE...

This paper formulates a continuous-time information transmission model in which an altruistic sender privately observes a stochastic state variable, and incurs a communication cost when she broadcasts a message. We characterize the sender's optimal announcement strategy using an ordinary...

Numerous optimal control models analyzed in economics are formulated as discounted infinite time horizon problems, where the defining functions are nonlinear as well in the states as in the controls. As a consequence solutions can often only be found numerically. Moreover, the long run optimal...

The maximin criterion defines the highest utility level that can be sustained in an intergenerational equity perspective. The viability approach makes it possible to characterize all the economic trajectories sustaining a given, not necessarily maximal, utility level. In this paper, we exhibit...

During the accumulation phase of a defined-contribution pension scheme, a scheme member invests part of their stochastic income in a portfolio of a stock and a bond in order to build up sufficient funds for retirement. It is assumed that the remainder of their salary pre-retirement is consumed,...

We develop a contingent claims model for a firm in financial distress with a formal account for renegotiations under the U.S. bankruptcy procedure (known as Chapter 11). Shareholders and two classes of creditors (senior and junior) alternatively propose a reorganization plan subject to a vote....

We study optimal investment in technologies characterized by the learning curve. There are two investment patterns depending on the shape of the learning curve. If the learning process is slow, firms invest relatively late and on a larger scale. If the curve is steep, firms invest earlier and on...

Addressing issues of social diversity, we introduce a model of housing transactions between agents who are heterogeneous in their willingness to pay. A key assumption is that agents' preferences for a location depend on both an intrinsic attractiveness and on the social characteristics of the...