We introduce a computational model of the evolution of a value-maximizing research-based pharmaceutical firm and parameterize it using estimates of R&D costs, profit distributions, and candidate attrition rates. We use the model to estimate how the probability of surviving and covering the costs...

This article analyzes investment and other strategies in a stationary dynamic common agency model of movie distribution. Contract choices interact with other strategic choices. The model explains several facts; movie distributors avoid head-to-head new hit releases, hits have longer runs than...

We describe a real-world profit sharing contract--the movie exhibition contract--and consider alternative explanations for its use. Two explanations based on difficulties with forecasting fit the facts better than asymmetric information models. The first emphasizes two-sided risk aversion; the...

Combined abnormal returns from U.S. bank holding company acquisitions during 2001–2011 suggest that diversification into investment banking, securities brokerage and insurance under the Gramm–Leach–Bliley Act of 1999 creates value. Exceptional returns depend on contributing factors; the...

Nations differ in their tolerance for costs of fighting and in their willingness to make concessions. We use a bargaining model of war to analyze these sensitivities. Incentives created by heightened sensitivity to costs often—but not always—contradict those created by heightened...

Court decisions in 1998 encouraged generic producers to pursue Paragraph IV patent challenges. A follow-up decision in 2000 marked the first successful challenge involving a blockbuster and brought further attention to this pathway for generic entry. We consider the impacts of these decisions on...