Welfare effects of intellectual property in a north-south model of endogenous growth with comparative advantage

This paper develops a model for analyzing the costs and benefits of intellectual property enforcement in LDCs. The North is more productive than the South and is the only source of innovator. There are two types of goods, and each bloc has a comparative advantage in producing a specific type of good. If comparative advantage is strong enough, even under piracy there are goods that the South will not produce. Piracy will then lead to a reallocation of innovative activity in favor of these goods. That may harm consumers (including consumers in the South) to the extent that these goods have smaller dynamic learning externalities than the other goods, and that their share in consumption is small. Thus, whether or not piracy is in the interest of the South depends on how important are the goods for which it has a comparative advantage to its consumers, and what the growth potential of these goods is. While, all else equal, the North tends to lose more (or gain less) from piracy than the South, because monopoly profits eventually accrue to the North, the South may lose more than the North if there is a strong enough home bias in favor of the goods for which it has a comparative advantage

Economic growth and the design of search engines

The Internet plays a growing role in the economy. This paper extrapolates this trend and analyses a world where most transactions take place in "cyberspace". We ask the following question: how does the design of the search engine affect the incentives to innovate and the economy’s long run growth rate? This is done in the context of a "qualitative" model where growth occurs because the number of varieties grows and consumers select a shrinking fraction of the available goods, of growing quality. They must use a search engine to locate goods. The search engine affects the market size of a good over its life cycle, and thus the incentives to innovate. Its structure has two conflicting effects. A visibility effect by which a greater hit score increases market size. A selection effect by which consumers are more picky and select higher quality goods, thus reducing the life span of any given good. While these two effects on growth cancel out for simple specifications, that is no longer the case if a firm’s score is variable along its life cycle or if he search process uses resources. It is shown that the discount effect of gradual recognition of popularity tends to reduce growth. Hence, growth is enhanced if the search engine is less sensitive to popularity. Also, growth is lower when the search engine rewards "web page quality" better because of the resources diverted away from R and D into advertising. But these mechanisms generate opposite level effects on the average quality selected by consumers. As a result the net effect on welfare is ambiguous

Investigations on the respiration of the Neotropical fish, Colossoma macropomum (Serrasalmidae). The influence of weight and temperature on the routine oxygen consumption

The influence of weight and temperature on the routine oxygen consumption of Colossoma macropomum, a Neotropical fish species of the family Serrasalmidae, was investigated using a constant flow respirometer. Plotted on a double logarithmic grid, oxygen consumption increases linearly with weight. Slopes of 0.64 at 25 and 30 °C, and 0.78 at 35 °C were obtained. Because of the significant difference in the slopes, a general value could not be provided. The metabolic rate of a 100 g fish increases from 103.7 to 191.5 and 289.7 mg O2/kg/h at 20, 25, and 30 °C, respectively. At 35 °C, the oxygen consumption rate decreased to 212.4 mg O2/kg/h. The metabolic rate is comparable to those of other tropical fish species. Obviously, Colossoma macropomum is well adapted to the constant temperature conditions of its Neotropical habitats

Does the Welfare State Make Older Workers Unemployable?

This paper discusses the specificities of the labor market for older workers. It discusses the implications of those specificities for the effect of labor market institutions on the employability of those workers. It shows that while unemployment benefits indexed backwards and hiring costs are likely to harm these workers more than the average worker, the converse is true for employment protection, provided it is uniform across workers and not specifically higher for older workers. It provides some evidence on the impact of labor market institutions on older workers by comparing their outcome in the United States and France. It discusses how the welfare state can be reformed in order to improve outcomes for older workers.older workers, labor market institutions, employment, employment protection, welfare state, pensions, retirement