This paper tries to explain why most migration flows show some observable jumps in their processes, a phenomenon that seems to be sympathetic with the characteristic of irreversibility of migration. We present a real option model where the choice to migrate depends on both the differential wage...

Recent European Legislation on immigration has revealed a particular paradox on migration policies. On one hand, the trend of recent legislation points to the increasing closure of frontiers (OECD 1999, 2001, 2004), also by using immigration quotas. On the other hand, there is an increase of...

The paper analyses the timing of spontaneous environmental innovation when second-mover advantages, arising from the expectation of declining investment costs, increase the option value of waiting created by investment irreversibility and uncertainty about private payoffs. We then focus on the...

To avoid the extremely high profit levels found in recent experiences with price cap regulation, some regulators have applied a profit-sharing (PS) rule that revises prices to the benefit of consumers. This paper investigates the conditions under which a regulator can implement such a PS scheme,...

When assigning a concession contract, the regulator faces the issue of setting the concession length. Another key issue is whether or not the concessionare should be allowed to set the timing of new invest- ments. In this paper we investigate the impact of concession length and investment timing...

We analyse the effects of different regulatory schemes (price cap and profit sharing) on a firm's investment of endogenous size. Using a real option approach in continuous time, we show that profit sharing does not delay a firm's start-up investment relative to a pure price cap scheme. Profit...

Il presente lavoro propone uno strumento di valutazione degli inves- timenti nel servizio idrico integrato (Legge 36/94) in grado di rendere esplicita la dimensione strategica dei progetti in espansione di capac- ità produttiva. In un contesto contrattuale in cui il Piano d'Ambito preveda una...

We provide a general framework in which to determine the optimal penalty fee inducing the contractor to respect the contracted delivery date in public procurement contracts (PPCs). We do this by developing a real option model that enables us to investigate the contractor’s value of investment...

The main aim of the paper is to highlight the relation between flexibility and vertical integration. To this purpose, we go through the selection of the optimal degree of vertical disintegration of a flexible firm which operates in a dynamic uncertain environment. The enterprise we model enjoys...

We deal with efficient allocation of the shut-down decision of a firm in which there is profit sharing. The paper can be considered as a complement to the literature on the endogenous ownership structure of the firm. We examine a variety of cases according to both different schemes of layoff...