This paper addresses the role of independent insurance intermediaries in markets where matching is important. A controversial matter in the discussion concerning insurance intermediation is the issue of compensation customs and how the latter affect prices, rents and advice quality in insurance...

This paper analyzes the economic effects of different income splitting rules for closely held corporations and sole proprietorships/partnerships in a tax system with a dual income tax. We conclude that the tax rules for closed corporations offer roughly the same cost of capital as for widely...

Highlighting the revival of industrial-policy thinking in an era of globalisation and disenchantment with free trade, this paper reviews alternative and, in part, competing theoretical foundations of industrial policy: neoclassical foundations, structuralist approaches, and pragmatic approaches...

Pension prefunding can be used to smoothe contribution rates in economies where ageing will increase pension expenditure. But how extensive should prefunding be, in a defined benefit pension system, when there is considerable uncertainty concerning future mortality, fertility, and migration? We...

This paper addresses the question of the software companies’ timing of adoption of the open source software (OSS) business models comprising the supply of OSS products and/or services. The game-theoretic technology adoption models do not explain well the observed diffusion patterns of the OSS...

A company’s intellectual capital consists of a set of various non-physical sources of value, such as employee competencies, stakeholder relationships and patents. This paper examines the relationship between intellectual capital and productivity at company-level. It is based on a conceptual...