Patents and R & D: The tournament effect

We identify a new route through which patent protection may affect R&D incentives, the tournament effect. It may decrease R\&D incentives, in which case patent protection may either adversely affect the level of R&D, or may discourage licensing. In either case welfare may fall.Patents, R&D incentive, Tournament effect, Licensing

Mergers, pollution and environmental policy

We examine the impact of abatement taxes on the pollution level in a duopoly framework with endogenous market structure. We demonstrate that an increase in abatement taxes could trigger a regime-switch from Cournot competition to merger, as well as from merger to Cournot competition. The nature of this switch is critically dependent on the nature of merger costs. However, in either case, this may cause the pollution level to increase.Mergers, pollution, abatement tax, endogenous market structure

Joint venture instability: a life cycle approach

Joint ventures represent one of the most fascinating developments in international business. In the last few decades, the rate of joint venture formation has accelerated dramatically. Nowadays joint ventures are much more widespread and occur in industries like telecommunications, biotechnology etc. At the same time, however, it must be noted that joint ventures are very unstable. In this paper we survey the phenomenon of joint venture instability. We draw on the relative recent theoretical literature on joint venture instability to provide a unified explanation of joint venture life-cycles, formation, as well as breakdown. Further, we do this for both research oriented, as well as production joint ventures.Joint ventures; formation; breakdown; synergy; moral hazard; learning

The Porter Hypothesis and Hyperbolic Discounting

We examine pollution-reducing R&D by a monopoly firm producing a dirty product. In a dynamic framework with hyperbolic discounting, we establish conditions under which the Porter hypothesis goes through, i.e. environmental regulation increases R&D, thus reducing pollution, as well as increasing firm profits. This is likely to hold whenever R&D costs are at an intermediate level, and the planning horizon of the firms is large.Porter hypothesis; abatement tax; R&D; hyperbolic discounting;

Mixed Duopoly with Price Competition

This paper examines coalition-proof Nash equilibria (CPNE) of a mixed duopoly with price competition where the public firm meets all the demand coming to it. If the private firm is free to supply less than demand, then the unique CPNE involves the competitive price. If however the private firm also has to supply all its demand, then the set of CPNE prices turns out to be an interval, with prices ranging from the socially optimal one, to the price under complete privatization.Mixed duopoly; coalition-proof Nash equilibrium; price competition

Free Entry Bertrand Competition

This paper examines Bertrand competition under free entry, when firm size vis-a-vis market size is exogenously given. A free entry Bertrand Nash equilibrium (FEBE) exists if and only if relative market size is sufficiently large. Further, there is a unique coalition-proof Nash equilibrium price that corresponds to the minimum FEBE price, leads to average cost pricing for all active firms and is decreasing in market size.Bertrand competition; free entry; coalition-proof; contestability

Land Acquisition: Fragmentation, Political Intervention and Holdout

This paper provides a theory of holdout based on the landowners' inability to manage large sums of money and consequent lack of consumption smoothing in case of sale. We find that under some reasonable conditions fragmentation increases holdout and moreover, this happens if and only if large landowners are relatively more willing to sale. Turning to the effects of politicization, we find that voice coupled with collective bargaining increases efficiency provided fragmentation is severe. Further, whether there is political intervention or not depends on the political maturity of the landowners, i.e. if they already have voice or not.Land acquisition; holdout; fragmentation; politics; voice; collective bargaining.

Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly with linear costs: A tale of two paradoxes

Consider a Bertrand-Edgeworth duopoly with linear cost functions. If the firms produce to stock then no Nash equilibrium in pure strategies exists. If, however, the firms produce to order then all subgame perfect Nash equilibria involve the firms charging a price equal to marginal cost.Bertrand paradox, Edgeworth paradox, linear cost

Bertrand competition with non-rigid capacity constraints

We examine a model of Bertrand competition with non-rigid capacity constraints, so that by incurring an additional per unit cost of capacity expansion, firms can produce beyond capacity. We find that there is an interval of prices such that a price can be sustained as a pure strategy Nash equilibrium if and only if it lies in this interval. We then examine the properties of this set as [a] the number of firms becomes large and [b] the capacity cost increases.Bertrand competition, capacity constraint