If asset specificity renders the investing party dependent ex post, why would the ex ante willingness to make relationship-specific investments vary? We show how specific investments generate both positive and counter-negative cooperative incentives. We also observe the influences of trust and time horizon on these incentives, which are aggregated to derive the specific investments effect (SIE)...

Abstract The aim of the study was to determine efficacy bioaugmentation in pyrene-contaminated soil based on microbial counts, colony development index (CD), ecophysiological diversity (EP), enzyme activity, and an assay residual pyrene levels soil. samples were contaminated with doses 100 1000 mg kg −1 DM Two bacterial consortia used study: P1 ( Bacillus frigoritolerans Z2B-19, simplex 2–134, ...

We analyze the effects of downstream firms’ acquisition of pure cash flow rights in an efficient upstream supplier when all firms compete in prices. With an acquisition, downstream firms internalize the effects of their actions on their rivals’ sales. Double marginalization is enhanced. Whereas full vertical integration would lead to decreasing, passive backwards ownership leads to increasing d...

Open source software, developed by volunteers, appears counter to the conventional wisdom that without ownership rights or government intervention, public goods will not be efficiently provided. But complexity makes a difference: contracts are incomplete and ownership rights do not necessarily elicit socially optimal effort. I consider three mechanisms that improve the provision of complex soft...

Functions of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded RNAs (EBERs) were tested in lymphoblastoid cell lines containing EBER mutants of EBV. Binding of EBER1 to ribosomal protein L22 (RPL22) was confirmed. Deletion of EBER1 or EBER2 correlated with increased levels of cytoplasmic EBV LMP2 RNA and with small effects on specific cellular microRNA (miRNA) levels, but protein levels of LMP1 and LMP2A were n...

This paper proposes a new approach to explain the long-term evolution of a supplier industry. The network of vertical relations between suppliers and buyers is identified as a determinant of the concentration of the supplier industry and of the dynamics of market shares. The vertical structure of the industry is captured by collecting information on all vertical relations between dyads of firms...

This study describes a clinical case of a 71-year-old male with a history of ischemic cardiomyopathy after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) endocarditis caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus epidermidis (MRSE) and a rare linezolid-resistant Streptococcus sanguinis strain (MIC, 32 μg/ml). The patient received courses of several antimicrobial agents, including linezolid for 79 days....

We develop a model to study the implications of a legal environment on software development and international trade. We show that the degree of contract enforcement a®ects the organizational mode (i.e., in-house or outsourcing) of customized software development. In autarky, a country with weak copyright protection develops customized software only, while a country with strong copyright protect...

This comment finds an error in De Fraja (1999), the correction of which overturns its main result. In contrast to his claim, under a mild condition, the suggested contract is not only unable to solve the hold-up problem but it can provide almost no incentive for specific investments, when they exhibit sufficiently large direct externalities. His result holds primarily when the investments have ...

Coexistence of Strategic Vertical Separation and Integration by Jos Jansen This paper gives conditions under which vertical separation is chosen by some upstream firms, while vertical integration is chosen by others in the equilibrium of a symmetric model. A vertically separating firm trades off fixed contracting costs against the strategic benefit of writing a (two-part tariff, exclusive deale...