Institutions, Holdup, and Automation

Holdup, Search and Inefficiency

This paper investigates the holdup problem in the dynamic search market where buyers and sellers search for their trading partners and specific investments are made after match but before trade. We show that frictionless (competitive) market imposes severe limitations on attainable efficiencies: Markets with small friction make the holdup problem more serious than those with large friction beca...

Patent Holdup and Royalty Stacking

We study several interconnected problems that arise under the current U.S. patent system when a patent covers one component or feature of a complex product. This situation is common in the information technology sector of the economy. Our analysis applies to cases involving reasonable royalties but not lost profits. First, we show using bargaining theory that the threat to obtain a permanent in...

Contractual Holdup and Legal Intervention

This article develops the point that incentive and risk-bearing problems associated with contractual holdup may justify legal intervention. Contractual holdup is considered both for fresh contracts and for modifications of contracts. One type of legal intervention is flat voiding of contracts. Such intervention tends to be advantageous when holdup situations are engineered. Another type of inte...

Contractual Holdup and Legal Intervention S. Shavell 3/5/08 Contracts, Holdup, and Legal Intervention

Fixture Design Automation and Optimization Techniques: Review and Future Trends

Fixture design is crucial part of manufacturing process. Fixture design is a critical design activity process, in which automation plays an integral role in linking computer-aided design (CAD) and computer-aided manufacturing (CAD). This paper presents a literature review in computer aided fixture design (CAFD) in terms of automation and optimization techniques over the past decades. First, the...