Sequential innovation and the patent-antitrust conflict

I examine antitrust policy in a model of cumulative innovation,arguing that collusion between successive patentees (e.g. throughpatent pools or cross-licensing agreements) may be sociallybeneficial under certain circumstances, even if the patentsinvolved are competing rather than complementary or blocking.Collusion stimulates investment in second-generation innovations,which is welfare-improving if their social returns exceed privatereturns. However, it discourages investment in first-generationinnovations. Thus, for the pooling of subsequent patents tobe beneficial, the non-appropriable returns from the secondinnovation must be large and it must be costly to achieve bycomparison with the first.     

Identifying and treating outliers in finance

Outliers represent a fundamental challenge in the empirical finance research. We investigate whether the routine techniques used in finance research to identify and treat outliers are appropriate for the data structures we observe in practice. Specifically, we propose a multivariate identification strategy that can effectively detect outliers. We also introduce an estimator that minimizes the bias outliers caused in both cross‐sectional and panel regressions and provide outlier mitigation guidance. Using replications of four recently published studies in premier finance journals, we show how adjusting for multivariate outliers can lead to significantly different results.     

Are subjective evaluations biased by social factors or connections? An econometric analysis of soccer referee decisions

Many incentive contracts are based on subjective evaluations and contractual disputes depend on judges’ decisions. However, subjective evaluations raise risks of favouritism and distortions. Sport contests are a fruitful field for testing empirically theories of incentives. In this paper the behaviour of the referees in the Italian soccer (football) league (“Serie A”) is analyzed. Using data on injury (or extra) time subjectively assigned by the referee at the end of the match and controlling for factors which may influence it (players substitutions, yellow and red cards, penalty kicks, etc.), we show that referees are biased in favour of home team, in that injury time is significantly greater if home teams are losing. The refereeing bias increases greatly when there is no running track in the stadium and the crowd is close to the pitch. Following the 2006 “Serie A” scandal we test whether favouritism emerges towards teams suspected of connections with referees finding that these teams obtain favourable decisions. Social pressure by the crowd attending the match however appears to be the main cause of favouritism. I would like to thank Francesco Aiello, Martin Brimble, Maria De Paola, Filippo Domma, Nicola Meccheri, Antonio Nicita, Michela Ponzo and two anonymous referees for useful comments. The usual caveats apply.     

Cash holdings and SME performance in Europe: the role of firm-specific and macroeconomic moderators

Small Business Economics - For the first time, this paper examines the way in which cash holdings affect firm operating performance in a wide sample of European small and medium-sized enterprises...     

Effects of background music endings on consumer memory in advertising

Background music is widely used in advertising to attract audiences' attention. However, no research to date has considered the effect of background music endings on consumer memory for advertised products and messages. Across two experiments, the present research shows that background music that ends abruptly (i.e., truncated ending) distracts consumers' attention, reducing memory for both products and messages, compared to background music that ends with a note in the chord of the dominant tonality (i.e., regular ending) or that concludes with a fading-out ending.     

Corporate culture and IPOs

This study documents corporate culture at the time of initial public offering (IPO) and the relationship between corporate culture at the time of IPO and firm financial performance. Based on a sample of 1157 US firms that went public between 1996 and 2011 and performance information through 2016, the data provide strong evidence that regional culture, industry characteristics, and pre-IPO financing play key roles in explaining a firm's cultural orientation. Moreover, the data indicate that IPO firms with a highly competition- and creation-oriented culture experience higher profitability and less risk of financial distress than other IPO firms.     

Post‐secondary education in Canada: can ability bias explain the earnings gap between college and university graduates?

Abstract .  Using the Canadian General Social Survey we compute returns to post-secondary education relative to high school. Unlike previous research using Canadian data, our data set allows us to control for ability selection into higher education. We find strong evidence of positive ability selection into all levels of post-secondary education for men and weaker positive selection for women. Since the ability selection is stronger for higher levels of education, particularly for university, the difference in returns between university and college or trades education decreases slightly after accounting for ability bias. However, a puzzling large gap persists, with university-educated men still earning over 20% more than men with college or trades education.     

Specific and Ad Valorem Taxation in Asymmetric Cournot Oligopolies

This paper compares ad valorem and specific taxes in asymmetric homogenous Cournot oligopolies with constant marginal costs. We show that for any given level of industry output, ad valorem taxes are superior to specific taxes in terms of revenue raised. If the tax rates are sufficiently high, for any given specific tax one can find an ad valorem tax that leads to greater tax revenue, consumer surplus, and industry profits.     

基于低碳理念的景观全生命周期碳源和碳汇量化探究——以天津仕林苑居住区为例

：景观全生命周期包含景观材料的生产、建造、日常使用和维护及废弃拆除4个阶段。在提出景观全生命周期碳源和碳汇量化比较模型的基础上,以天津仕林苑居住区为例,对其景观50年全生命周期的碳源和碳汇进行比较研究,得到居住区景观在建设初期存在碳源和碳汇不平衡,碳源和碳汇量在将近30年时才可达到平衡的结果。其中,景观材料和维护阶段的碳源是居住区碳源的主要来源,因此,在居住区景观建设中,如何减少碳源量、增加碳汇量,是营建低碳景观的关键。     

Effects of fixed and continuously distributed delays in a monopoly model with constant price elasticity

In this paper, we analyze the dynamics of a monopoly model with constant elasticity in which the monopolist faces a form of bounded rationality due to limited accessibility to information. We assume the firm adopts a gradient mechanism to adjust the output level, and we investigate how the introduction of fixed and continuously distributed delays within the resulting continuous-time system may affect the long-run dynamics. We find that the stability of the equilibrium depends on the weighting function adopted to model continuously distributed delays, and the convergence of the realized output toward the steady state is crucially affected by the choice of the delay type which, in turn, reflects the availability and the weight assigned to information. Indeed, depending on the assumptions on modeling delays, the equilibrium point may undergo a Hopf bifurcation after which a limit cycle arises.