Strategic patents and asymmetric litigation costs as entry deterrence instruments

To spur innovation, the patent protection system grants the patentee limited monopoly power to recoup his R&D investment, although, in general, allowing the use of the public good "innovation" is socially efficient. But patents and patent threats can also be used strategically, e.g. to deter entry from competitors. This note shows that, besides incumbency, the present patent protection system constitutes an additional strategic instrument that favors the incumbent, because asymmetric litigation costs may deter entry from potential rivals.Entry deterrence

Specialization in the bargaining family

We develop a two period family decision making model in which spouses bargain over their contributions to a family public good and the distribution of private consumption. In contrast to most models in the literature, specialization within the couple emerges endogenously from the production of the public good, and is not caused by exogenous differences between the spouses. Increasing marginal benefits of labour market experience make specialization efficient, even if both spouses have equal market and household productivities on the outset. If spouses are not able to enter into a binding contract governing the distribution of private consumption in the second period, the spouse specialized in market labour cannot commit to compensate the other spouse for foregone investments in earnings power. As a consequence, this spouse may withdraw part of his/her contribution and the provision level of the household good is likely to be inefficiently low.Family bargaining, specialization, private provision of public goods

Self-Insurance and Self-Protection as Public Goods

Many public goods like lighthouses and fire departments do not provide direct utility but act as insurance devices against shipwreck and destruction. They either diminish the size and/or the probability of the loss. We extend the public good model with this insurance aspect and generalize Samuelson?s efficient allocation rule when self-insurance and self-protection expenditures are pure public goods. Some comparative static results with respect to changes in income and risk behavior are derived. We analyze the interaction of private market insurance with the public good level, both for efficient provision and for private provision equilibria. The privately provided levels of self- insurance and self-protection decrease when market insurance is available, which suggests that the state should invest more in preventing not insurable risks like wars. Additionally, the state should focus on self-protection expenditures if those are better observable than private self-protection effort. --Self-insurance,self-protection,efficient provision of public goods,private provision of public goods,market insurance

The wage gap and the leisure gap for double earner couples

Empirical research has consistently shown that, on average, men are paid higher wages than women. At the same time, men enjoy more leisure time than women. We develop a model of private provision of family public goods to analyze whether the wage gap and the leisure gap are related. Within a nonco- operative framework, different bargaining power situations within a couple are considered which lead to different empirical hypotheses. With data from the German Socio-Economic Panel we focus on the leisure gap and the wage gap within double earner couples and in this way are able to discriminate among the theoretical models. Our random effects estimates show that husbands have a stronger bargaining position and this advantage results in them enjoying, other things equal, more leisure time that their wives.

Die Kostenfaktoren der öffentlichen Theater in Deutschland: eine Untersuchung mit dem Schwerpunkt Berlin

Die Bundesrepublik Deutschland leistet sich eine der größten öffentlichen Theaterbranchen der Welt. Mehr als 150 öffentliche Theater (Opern- und Operettenhäuser, Schauspieltheater, Konzertsäle u. a.) buhlen um die Gunst des Publikums. Nach der Theaterstatistik des Deutschen Bühnenvereins für die Spielzeit 1999/2000 besuchten 20,2 Mill. Kulturinteressierte knapp 64 000 Theaterveranstaltungen. Die öffentlichen Theater werden hauptsächlich durch Subventionen aus dem Staatshaushalt finanziert. Von den Theatereinnahmen in Höhe von rund 4,7 Mrd. DM bzw. 2,40 Mrd. Euro stammten knapp 4 Mrd. DM bzw. 2,05 Mrd. Euro (83,6 %) von der öffentlichen Hand und nur 25 Mill. DM bzw. 12,78 Mill. Euro (0,5 %) von privaten Einrichtungen. Die restlichen knapp 700 Mill. DM (358 Mill. Euro) erwirtschafteten die Theater u. a. durch Einnahmen aus Kartenverkauf, Platzmieten, Programmverkauf. Gerade die Hauptstadt Berlin hat eine vielfältige Theaterlandschaft, deren Umfang angesichts angespannter öffentlicher Haushalte infrage gestellt wird. Die hier vorgelegte Untersuchung zeigt, dass die gewünschten Spareffekte in Berlin weniger durch die Schließung von Theatern als vielmehr durch Sparmaßnahmen bei vielen Theatern erreicht wurden. Doch über welches Rationalisierungspotential verfügen die öffentlichen Theater? Die Kosten hängen vor allem vom "Veranstaltungs-Output" und nicht von der rechtlichen Organisationsform oder Trägerschaft ab

Geography of the family

We study the residential choice of siblings who are altruistic towards their parents. The first-born child’s location choice influences the behavior of the second-born child and can shift some of the burden of providing care for the parents from one child to the other. These strategic considerations lead to an equilibrium location pattern with firstborn children locating further away from their parents than second-born children. We also analyze the location choices empirically using German data. These data confirm our theoretical predictions. -- Wir untersuchen die Wohnortwahl von Geschwisterkindern, die altruistisch gegenüber ihren Eltern sind. Ältere Geschwister können durch ihre Wohnortwahl die Wohnortwahl ihrer jüngeren Geschwister beeinflussen und damit die mögliche Last der Pflege der alternden Eltern auf die jüngeren Geschwister verlagern. Diese strategischen Überlegungen führen im Gleichgewicht zu einem bestimmten Verhaltensmuster, was die Wohnortentscheidungen von Kindern im Verhältnis zu ihren Eltern angeht, einer „Geographie der Familie“. Wir zeigen ferner, dass sich dieses Verhaltensmuster in den Wohnortentscheidungen einer repräsentativen Stichprobe deutscher Haushalte widerspiegelt.Family public goods,voluntary intergenerational transfers

Self-Insurance and Self-Protection as Public Goods

Many public goods like lighthouses and fire departments do not provide direct utility but act as insurance devices against shipwreck and destruction. They either diminish the size and/or the probability of the loss. We extend the public good model with this insurance aspect and generalize Samuelson?s efficient allocation rule when self-insurance and self-protection expenditures are pure public goods. Some comparative static results with respect to changes in income and risk behavior are derived. We analyze the interaction of private market insurance with the public good level, both for efficient provision and for private provision equilibria. The privately provided levels of self- insurance and self-protection decrease when market insurance is available, which suggests that the state should invest more in preventing not insurable risks like wars. Additionally, the state should focus on self-protection expenditures if those are better observable than private self-protection effort

Self-Insurance and Self-Protection as Public Goods

Many public goods like dams, fire departments, and lighthouses do not provide direct utility but act more as insurance devices against floods, fire, and shipwreck. They either diminish the probability or the size of the loss. We extend the public good model with this insurance aspect and generalize Samuelson?s efficient allocation rule when self-insurance and self-protection expenditures are pure public goods. Some comparative static results with respect to changes in income and risk behavior are derived. As some of the sketched risks are insurable while some others are not, we introduce further the possibility of risk coverage by private market insurance. We analyze the interaction of such an insurance with the public good level, both for efficient provision and for private provision equilibria. It turns out that the levels of self-insurance and self-protection decrease when being privately provided. Moreover, it appears a strategic substitutability between the public good and market insurance which leads to an additional decline of the provision levels

Geography of the family

"The authors study the residential choice of siblings who are altruistic towards their parents. The first-born child's location choice influences the behavior of the second-born child and can shift some of the burden of providing care for the parents from one child to the other. These strategic considerations lead to an equilibrium location pattern with first-born children locating further away from their parents than second-born children. The authors also analyze the location choices empirically using German data. These data confirm our theoretical predictions." (author's abstract)"Die Autoren untersuchen die Wohnortwahl von Geschwisterkindern, die altruistisch gegenüber ihren Eltern sind. Ältere Geschwister können durch ihre Wohnortwahl die Wohnortwahl ihrer jüngeren Geschwister beeinflussen und damit die mögliche Last der Pflege der alternden Eltern auf die jüngeren Geschwister verlagern. Diese strategischen Überlegungen führen im Gleichgewicht zu einem bestimmten Verhaltensmuster, was die Wohnortentscheidungen von Kindern im Verhältnis zu ihren Eltern angeht, einer 'Geographie der Familie'. Die Autoren zeigen ferner, dass sich dieses Verhaltensmuster in den Wohnortentscheidungen einer repräsentativen Stichprobe deutscher Haushalte widerspiegelt." (Autorenreferat

A multiproxy study distinguishes environmental change from diagenetic alteration in the recent sedimentary record of the inner Cadiz Bay (SW Spain)

In this study, we reconstruct the recent environmental evolution of the inner Cadiz Bay using sedimentary records reaching back as far as AD 1700. We report lithological descriptions of the sediments and extensive mineralogical and geochemical analyses. An extraction technique that identifies different Fe phases provides an assessment of diagenetic alteration, which allows an estimation of the original organic matter inputs to the inner Cadiz Bay. Downcore variations in Corg/N ratios, δ13Corg and δ15N are related to changes in organic matter sources and the trophic state of the water column. The downcore records of selected trace metals (e.g. Pb, Zn and Cu) are interpreted to reflect changes in heavy metal pollution in the bay, while records of other elements (e.g. Mn and P) are likely overprinted by diagenetic alteration. Major environmental shifts took place during the 20th century, when the population around Cadiz Bay increased exponentially. Increases in sediment accumulation rates, organic matter inputs and heavy metal contents, in parallel with increases in δ13Corg and δ15N over this period, are interpreted as direct effects of the increasing anthropogenic influence in the area. The results of this study suggest that multiproxy approaches and detailed consideration of diagenetic overprinting are required to reconstruct past environmental conditions from coastal sediments