Search results for "contracts"

Credit market failures and policy

2009

In a simple model of the credit market, based on Stiglitz-Weiss (1981), equilibria are computed and optimal policies to correct market failures are characterized. Some widely applied policies, notably interest-rate subsidies and investment subsidies, are compared to theoretical optimum, and an alternative optimal policy is described which we argue is more robust to model misspecification. An insight on the trade-off between credit policy and infrastructural investment is also offered. A discussion of some aspects of regional policy in Italy's Mezzogiorno is finally presented as an application of the analysis.

University–industry partnerships for the provision of R&D services

2015

Technology Transfer Offices (TTOs) are the main institutions responsible for the establishment of university–industry partnerships. R&D contracts exemplify the indirect mechanisms through which enterprises and universities collaborate on a win–win basis. This study addresses organizational and institutional aspects that act as drivers for the establishment of successful university–industry partnerships. First, a series of regression models explain the determinants of R&D contracts. These models include two main dimensions: the university and the technology transfer office. Second, further analysis empirically explores whether universities in regions with a favorable environment enjoy greate…

Contract Renewal in Urban Water Services, Incumbent Advantage, and Market Concentration

2020

Contract renewal with the incumbent is common practice in the contracting-out of public services. It could, however, affect competition by reinforcing trends towards market concentration. This article contributes empirical evidence on the determinants of the result of public tenders for the renewal of private provision of the urban water service. A dataset with information on 215 public tenders held in Spain between 2008 and 2019 is employed. The methodology is grounded in logistic regression techniques. The findings indicate that incumbents' size does not play a role in the proba-bility of alternating between service providers. Furthermore, competition−proxied by the number of bidders−and …

Contract, Renegotiation, and Holdup: When Should Messages be Sent?

2015

I consider a setting of complete but unverifiable information in which two agents enter a contractual relationship to induce mutually beneficial investments. As my main result, I establish that the famous irrelevance of contracting paradigm, that arises due to the detrimental effect of renegotiation, is resolved if there is a fixed point in time when actions have to be chosen and one accounts for the fact that renegotiation takes time. What drives my optimality result is that, by stipulating when the mechanism is to be played, the agents ensure that renegotiation is possible ex ante but not ex post.

The EU’s online gambling regulatory approach and the crisis of legal modernity

2014

ONLINE GAMBLING CONTRACTS AS NEW FRONTIERS OF INTERNATIONAL CONSUMER TRANSACTIONS

2016

Flexible Wage Contracts, Temporary Jobs, and Firm Performance: Evidence From Italian Firms

2013

This study focuses on the effects of decentralized wage schemes and temporary forms of employment on firm performance. The effect of monetary incentives on workers' effort and firm performance is a central topic in economics. According to the principal-agent paradigm, firms (the principal) have to link employees' remuneration schemes to any verifiable indicator of performance to avoid opportunistic behavior. The empirical evidence shows that financial incentives have the potential to exert strong effects on indicators of firm performance, such as productivity and worker absenteeism, although the degree of effectiveness of such schemes varies significantly according to the institutional/econ…

Nonlinear associations between breached obligations and employee well-being

2015

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyze the nonlinear association between proportions of breached obligations within the psychological contract (PC) and three dimensions of employee well-being, and the mediating role of contract violation in these relationships. With this study the authors gain a more detailed understanding of PC evaluations and their consequences for well-being. Design/methodology/approach – The authors build on asymmetry effects theory and affective events theory to propose that breached obligations outweigh fulfilled obligations in their association with well-being. The hypotheses are tested using a sample of 4,953 employees from six European countries and Isr…

La tutela del contraente debole nella platform economy

2018

Negli ultimi anni si è affermato un nuovo modello di attività produttiva nel quale piattaforme digitali mettono in contatto gruppi interdipendenti di agenti economici per facilitare lo scambio di beni e l’erogazione di servizi. Dinanzi a questa trasformazione nell’organizzazione d’impresa, nel coordinamento del lavoro e nella struttura dei mercati, il diffuso appello a stabilire un “terreno di gioco neutrale” diviene la premessa per proporre la deregolamentazione di interi comparti economici valorizzando la capacità di autogoverno delle piattaforme. Mentre le reazioni a queste proposte sono confinate quasi esclusivamente alla questione del lavoro, è mancata finora un’analisi più generale de…

Acerca de la redefinición de la autonomía privada en la sociedad tecnológica

2018

La sociedad tecnológica del siglo XXI exige una redefinición de la autonomía de la voluntad como principio vertebrador del Derecho privado. Este artículo introduce una reflexión sobre la actualidad de este principio a la luz de dos fenómenos: la creciente vulnerabilidad del consumidor en la contratación de productos y servicios complejos y el incierto panorama resultante de la implementación de la tecnología blockchain a las transacciones contractuales inter privatos. Technological Society in the 21st Century requires a redefinition of principle of private autonomy. This essay analyses this issue referring to the problems of vulnerable consumer and application of blockchain technology to pr…