Flexible mass production (FMP) is specified in terms of the cost of switching fixed inputs to produce differentiated products. Incorporating this concept into a model of spatial competition, we show that, while the late comers may need FMP technology to enter an established market, for the early...

Consider an economy with a high risk and high return and a low risk and low return asset and risk-averse agents making intertemporal consumption and investment decisions. The agent will choose a savings rate to balance current and future consumptions, and an investment portfolio to balance...

Using a data set that traces the ten-year history of 80 Chinese rural enterprises, known as township and village enterprises, we study the implications of introducing managerial incentives and better-defined ownership for a firm's financial performance. During this period, these mostly...

Following a suggestion of Easterbrook (1984), the incentive role of new security offerings is studied in the agency model with a costly signal. We identify conditions under which the optimal contract contingent on the signal can be achieved by a mechanism that involves the monitoring of a third...

This article investigates how human capital investment, labor turnover, and wages are jointly determined when the current employer knows more about a worker's productivity than potential employers. Results derived are quite different from, or unexplored by, the standard human capital theory. We...

Consider an economy with a high risk and high return and a low risk and low return asset and risk-averse agents making intertemporal consumption and investment decisions. The agent will choose a savings rate to balance current and future consumptions, and an investment portfolio to balance...

To better understand the relationship between different types of firm ownership and management turnover, this study classifies ownership along two dimensions: the type of owner and the concentration of ownership. Within this framework, a unique data set is used to study the impact of management...