This paper examines the optimality of export subsidies in oligopolistic markets, when home and foreign fires have different costs and there is an opportunity cost to public funds. Subsidies are found to be optimal only for surprisingly lou values of the shadow price of government funds and, if...

Empirical evidence strongly suggests that R&D increases a firm’s "absorptive capacity" (its ability to absorb spillovers from other firms) as well as contributing directly to profitability. We explore the theoretical implications of this. We specify a general model of the absorptive capacity...