Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are the backbone of Europe’s economy: there are 23 million SMEs in Europe representing around 99% of all undertakings, and 57% of them are sole proprietorships. They provide two thirds of total private-sector employment, represent 80% of the total job...

Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are the backbone of Europe’s economy: there are 23 million SMEs in Europe representing around 99% of all undertakings, and 57% of them are sole proprietorships. They provide two thirds of total private-sector employment, represent 80% of the total job...

We study rationalizable solutions in a linear asymmetric Cournot oligopoly. We show that symmetry across firms favors multiplicity of rationalizable solutions: A merger (implying a greater asymmetry across firms) makes out-of-equilibrium behavior less likely and should dampen &lquo;coordination&rquo;...

This paper presents the first quantitative assessment of labour productivity dynamics in Italy's industrial sector between 1911 and 1951 and explores their links with changes in competition policy. It relies on a newly compiled dataset and provides fresh labour productivity estimates,...

This paper considers cost-reducing R&D investment with spillovers in a Cournot oligopoly with minority shareholdings. We find that, with high market concentration and sufficiently convex demand, there is no scope for cross-ownership to improve welfare regardless of spillover levels. Otherwise,...

After describing the essential features of the book market, a welfare analysis of the fixed book price agreement is given. Allowance is made for the opportunity cost of reading. Theoretically, the agreement pushes up book prices and depresses book sales. However, more titles will be published,...