Radio frequency identification (RFID) is an upcoming technology with a large potential, but it also introduces a number of threats. Ownership transfer has been introduced to mitigate the risks which are caused by changes in ownership of RFID tags. We present formal definitions for ownership and ownership transfer in RFID systems and their secure variants. These definitions can be used to verify...

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expresse...

Knowledge-based firms seeking competitive advantage often draw on the public knowledge stream – ideas embedded in public commons institutions – as the foundation for private knowledge – ideas firms protect through private intellectual property (IP) institutions. However, we have a limited understanding of the converse relationship: the impact of private knowledge strategies on public knowledge ...

Purpose In order for public transport to be a part of the solution to the environmental problems caused by traffic there need to be a clear understanding of how, and to what extent, different factors affect demand. There still seem to be some confusion regarding some key relationships, one of them being the effect of income on public transport demand. The purpose of this article is therefore to...

A large fraction of US public stock is held by institutional investors that frequently hold shares in multiple firms in the same industry (“common ownership”). Concerns have been raised that common ownership might harm competition if it confers influence over important strategic decisions. Using data from the airline industry, we estimate the effects of common ownership on airline prices using ...

This paper considers the role of ownership form for the financial performance of German acute care hospitals and its development over time. We measure financial performance by a hospital-specific yearly probability of default (PD). Using a panel of hospital data, our models allow for state dependence in the PD as well as unobserved individual heterogeneity. We find that private ownership is mor...

BACKGROUND A growing number of German hospitals have been privatized with the intention of increasing cost effectiveness and improving the quality of health care. Numerous studies investigated what possible qualitative and economic consequences these changes issues might have on patient care.However, little is known about how this privatization trend relates to physicians' working conditions an...