This paper develops a model of political consensus in order to explain the missing link between inequality and political redistribution. Political consensu s is an implicit agreement not to vote for extreme policy proposals. We show tha t such an agreement may play an efficiency-enhancing role....

A notion of ''behavioral heterogeneity'' of a finite population of households is modelled. It is shown that the higher the degree of behavioral heterogeneity the less sensitive depends the aggregate consumption expenditure ratio upon prices.As a consequence, behavioral heterogeneity implies a...

This paper explores the impact of insatiable needs on the sustainability and the direction of technological change and economic growth. In a simple framework it is shown that growth can only be sustained if either the opportunity costs of research are small at low levels of research or if some...

This paper is an attempt to provide a strategic rationale behind patent infringement agreements (PIA). We interpret such agreements as yet another form of cooperation in a non-cooperative environment. If the infringement probability is not 'too' low, firms would have incentive to sign a PIA...

We reconsider Tirole's framework of a three-tier principal-agent problem, in which he has shown that an incentive problem is caused by the possibility of monetary side payments between the agent and the middle -level supervisor. We consider the case where monetary transfers are not possible, but...

The financial structure of firms is diverse. Firms issue many different types of financial claims. This article focuses on the seniority structure of debt contracts. It is outlined under what conditions firms can improve the outcome of their financial decisions by choosing seniority structure....