We propose a simple model where large innovation waves arise from the endogenous propagation of information around sectors. Innovators of each sector invest in internal R&D and in local search for information. We show that depending on the structural parameters of the single sectors, some of the...

Recent literature shows how the destabilising effect of portfolio insurance activity on the price of the underlying asset depends on the liquidity of the asset market. We build a simple model where market timers shift capital around asset markets in order to exploit gains from temporary...

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the evolutionary process of imitation and innovation as a process of searching in a given neighbourhood of firms. Networks are the main source of information for firms willing to actively search and upgrade and which define the reachable neighbourhood...

This paper deals with the aggregate effects of small, exogenous but idiosyncratic technological shocks on locally interacting firms. Its main purpose is to model a situation in which technological paradigms emerge through endogenous propagation and diffusion of information leading to an...

We present a model where it can be optimal for rational informed speculators/arbitragers to ride the bubble instead of using their information for stabilising purposes. This result stems from the interaction of speculators with behavioural traders. These latter in each period of time either...

This paper investigates the mechanics through which wealth may, in the long run, trickle down from the rich to the poor. In the presence of indivisibilities in investment of human capital and impossibility of borrowing money, investment in education is financed through an intergenerational...

Technological innovation requires the gathering of information through a process of searching and learning. We distinguish two different but definitely complementary and overlapping ways through which searching and learning occur. The first exploits the spillover potential that lies in a firm's...

In this paper shareholders face the trade-off between providing managers with incentives to exert beneficial effort and to engage in costly fraudulent activity. We solve for the optimal compensation package, given that shareholders can either grant (restricted) stock or stock options and given...