The optimal design of input prices is analyzed in a simple setting where the regulator has limited knowledge of efficient production costs. Under some conditions, input prices are optimally set equal to expected efficient production costs, as under the Federal Communications Commission’s TELRIC pricing policy in the U.S. telecommunications industry. More generally, input prices optimally reflec...

A patent owner is entitled to recover any additional profits that would have been earned but for infringement. This paper suggests the use of an adaptation of merger simulation to assess lost profits in patent infringement cases. A model of the industry with infringement is calibrated to observed prices and quantities and estimated demand elasticities. Lost profits are then estimated by calcula...

Using administrative data from the state of Georgia, this paper finds that, on average, across all firms, employing undocumented workers reduces a firm’s hazard of exit by 19 percent. The advantage to firms from employing undocumented workers increases as more firms in the industry do so, decreases with the skill level of the firm’s workers, increases with the breadth of a firm’s market, and in...

Employment Effects of Payroll Taxes An Empirical Test for Germany* This study tests to what degree the incidence of payroll taxes in Germany is on employment and whether in consequence payroll taxes, in particular social insurance contributions, are the culprit behind the growing unemployment problem. Using industry level data for 18 years (1977-1994) we estimate a system of five interdependent...

It is a widely adopted practice for firms to announce new products well in advance of actual market availability, especially in the computer industry. In this paper, a firm makes pre-announcements on its product, which are ‘cheap talk.’ We develop a reputation model of vaporware where the product pre-announcement can convey information about the product’s quality. Also, we discuss its implicati...

Drastic changes and turbulence in macro-economic factors have the greatest impact on banks target market attractiveness in Iran. It is assumed that conventional segmentation models at the corporate level are not efficient for banking system. This study aims to develop a new segmentation model at the industry level for banks of Iran. For this purpose, structures and variables at the industry lev...

Three different studies are reported concerning the environmental pollution caused by viruses in Albania. The first study describes an outbreak of gastroenteritis in the capital city, involving 2,722 children attending the Paediatric Unit of Tirana Hospital. The age group with the highest morbidity was 0–5 years, with 89.5%; no fatalities were recorded during the outbreak. Rotavirus was detecte...

In this paper, the problem of automatic classification of rust grades on steel surfaces is considered. Three texture analysis methods are studied to form features from steel surfaces. Nearest Neighbor classifier is used for classification of steel surface types. The results indicate that automation of the inspection and classification process is feasible.

Linkages between industry and university have become crucial for knowledge discovery and driving industrialization within fast-paced global competition and technological evolution. This study offers a pair-wise cross-case analysis of the transitioning of Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) and Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) to become entrepreneurial universities through the Co...