A dynamic theory of the small firm is expounded, assuming entrepreneurs maximise business value over a finite time horizon. Its predicted trajectories for key financial variables depend on which of debt and equity are cheaper. The predictions are compared with empirical evidence constructed from...

Tests of political theories of macroeconomic policy have concentrated on the post-WW2 sample period. These theories are here tested for historical robustness using evidence from the U.S.A. from the period 1880-1948. Although no evidence is found to support the political business cycle...

This paper proposes a methodology for estimation of spatial weights matrices which are consistent with a given or estimated pattern of spatial autocovariance. This approach is potentially useful for applications in urban, environmental, development, growth and other areas of economics where...

Capital-skill complementarity is tested for two different definitions of skill, using data from 32 West German manufacturing industries from 1975-1990. Using the Kmenta approximation for the CES function provides strong support for complementarity between white collar workers and capital. On the...

This paper is concerned with testing for two related sources of market failure in UK R&D funding. First, there is a possibility of some credit market failure implying that there are some additional costs associated with external finance and that these costs are higher for R&D intensive firms. If...

First-price auction experiments find often substantial overbidding which is typically related to risk aversion. We introduce a model where some bidders use constrained linear bids. As with risk aversion this leads to overbidding if valuations are high, but in contrast to risk aversion the model...

Do workers benefit from the education of their co-workers? We investigate this question drawing on a panel of large Portuguese firms and their workers, using fixed effects and instrumenting average schooling in each firm-year with its lagged value and the lagged share of retirement-age workers....

This paper uses National Child Development Study data for a large cohort of British individuals, to explore the influence of education, inheritance and other background characteristics on the propensity to become self-employed; and also on subsequent success, as measured by job and wealth...

This paper reports on the behaviour of young (less than three years old) micro-firms (less than ten employees) in Scotland, with an emphasis on life-cycle effects. Two main tests were carried out. The first took Gibrat's Law (that growth is independent of size) as the null hypothesis, and a...

This paper models inter-jurisdiction competition for foreign direct investment and optimal government policy intervention to protect the national interest. The inter-jurisdiction competition for a multinational has the potential of favouring the multinational and of becoming detrimental for the...