The 2008 version of the SNA has recommended capitalization of R&D expenditures. To implement this recommendation, we need to determine the depreciation rate of R&D capital. In this paper, we develop a simple model, based on a production function method that allows for monopolistic competition,...

Empirical evidence shows that vertically integrated producers are more productive, bigger and are matched to better suppliers (with high productivity and size). I present a dynamic stochastic model of an industry with heterogeneous firms interacting as buyers and sellers, and market frictions...

The literature on irreversible investment fails to explore the relationship between the present value of alternative strategies and appropriate risk-adjusted interest rates. We attempt to fill this gap by showing that, to avoid arbitrage opportunities, the real option¡¦s rate must be higher...

We investigate the empirical linkages between sales uncertainty and firms’ inventory investment behavior while controlling for firms’ financial strength. Using large panels of manufacturing firms from several European countries we find that higher sales uncertainty leads to larger stocks of...

This paper studies an incompletely informed regulator's problem of inducing a firm producing durable pollution to adopt a socially optimal pollution storage technology. We construct a sparse, yet flexible, theoretical model that can be applied directly to concrete situations as it is stated...

The so-called anomalies that arise in the computation and interpretation of the Net Present Value (NPV) and the Internal Rate of Return (IRR) can be easily overcome if the properties of the NPV function are taken into account and it is clearly defined what is an investment and what is a credit....

We consider a simple model of international trade under uncertainty, where production takes time and is subject to uncertainty. The riskiness of production depends on the choices of the producers, not observable to the general public, and these choices are influenced by the availability and cost...

Attention is called to a little explored scarce resource, termed 'economic competence', which combines features of human capital and bounded rationality, and causes a singularity in resource-allocation in society. The performance of each economy is shown to strongly depend on how this resource...

In January 2008, China adopted a new labour contract law. This new law represents the most significant reform to the legislation on employment relations in mainland China in more than a decade. The paper provides a theoretical framework on the inter-linkages between labour market regulation,...

We show that the standard analysis of vertical relationships transposes directly to investment timing. Thus, when a firm undertaking a project requires an outside supplier (e.g. an equipment manufacturer) to provide it with a discrete input, and if the supplier has market power, investment...