This paper discusses the optimal firm size in the presence of influence activities, and the level of individual rent-seeking dependent on the economic situation of the firm. Since firm size has a discouraging effect on the level of individual rent-seeking but also a quantity effect as the number...

According to New Institutional Economics, two or more individuals will found an organization, if it leads to a benefit compared to market allocation. A natural consequence will then be internal rent seeking. We discuss the interrelation between profits, rent seeking and the foundation of...

We develop a new monthly panel survey of business executives and a new question design that elicits subjective probability distributions over own-firm outcomes at a one-year lookahead horizon. Our Survey of Business Uncertainty (SBU) began in 2014 and now covers 1,500 firms drawn from all 50...

We develop a new monthly panel survey of business executives and a new question design that elicits subjective probability distributions over own-firm outcomes at a one-year lookahead horizon. Our Survey of Business Uncertainty (SBU) began in 2014 and now covers 1,500 firms drawn from all 50...

We elicit subjective probability distributions from business executives about their own firm outcomes at a one-year look-ahead horizon. In terms of question design, our key innovation is to let survey respondents freely select support points and probabilities in five-point distributions over...

In this paper we analyze the factors that drive the adoption of innovative resource efficiency strategies to reduce energy and material use, under different market conditions. We uncover the "paradox" of lower adoption of resource efficiency strategies in an economic downturn and identify the...

Climate change is seen as the most pressing environmental problem of our time by many companies, policymakers and other stakeholders. It is currently also at the forefront of attention in view of attempts to conclude a successor to the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. In bail-out plans and...

We develop a numerically solved equilibrium model of the labor market to study the effect of unemployment insurance (UI) over the business cycle. This model combines sequential job search, optimal job offer, layoff, and recall decisions, an aggregate productivity cycle, and details of an actual...

This paper presents a model in which promotion of employees within the internal firm hierarchy is determined by the individuals' allocation of time between promotion/rent-seeking and productive activity. We consider the effect of an increase in the employer's knowledge (information) regarding...

This paper presents a model in which promotion of employees within the internal firm hierarchy is determined by the individuals' allocation of time between promotion/rent-seeking and productive activity. We consider the effect of an increase in the employer's knowledge (information) regarding...