Publication records

The narrative of development economics is now infused with discussions of institutions. Economists debate whether institutions-or other factors altogether (geography, culture, or religion)-are central to development. In this volume, leading scholars in development economics view institutions from a microeconomic perspective, offering both theoretical overviews and empirical analyses spanning three continents. After substantial introductory chapters by Pranab Bardhan and Marcel Fafchamps, two scholars who have published important work on this topic, each of the remaining chapters examines a particular set of institutions in a unique setting. These chapters treat the effects of Angola's violent conflict on that country's development; institutional accountability in Uganda; the effect of Indonesia's ethnic diversity on the distribution of public goods; the impact of trade liberalization on India's investment climate; extended family networks in Mexico; and a microeconomic perspective on land rights in Ethiopia. The chapters demonstrate the remarkable heterogeneity of institutions-policy change is mediated through local market institutions, government institutions, and families-as well as the empirical and methodological ingenuity of current research into this crucial topic.

This column discusses the challenges of finding oneself in a situation of luck and not mixing up hard work and effort with serendipity in the context of Russian organizations.

Payment card networks, such as Visa, require merchants' banks to pay substantial "interchange" fees to cardholders' banks, on a per transaction basis. This paper shows that a network's profit-maximizing fee induces an inefficient price structure, over-subsidizing card usage and over-taxing merchants. In contrast to the literature we show that this distortion is systematic and arises from the fact that consumers make two distinct decisions (membership and usage) whereas merchants make only one (membership). These findings are robust to competition for cardholders and/or for merchants, network competition, and strategic card acceptance to attract consumers.

An earlier version of this working paper appeared in the European Central Bank Working Paper Series (No. 1139).

 

View all ESMT Working Papers in the ESMT Working Paper Series here. ESMT Working Papers are also available via SSRN, RePEc, EconStor, and the German National Library (DNB).

This paper analyzes the technology commercialization strategy of an innovating firm when the incumbent firms possess specialized commercialization capabilities. According to the predominant framework, if the innovation is protected by a strong appropriabilty regime the optimal strategy is to license the innovation to an incumbent product firm. This paper argues by contrast that if the innovating firm has the ability to learn from its commercialization experience, its optimal strategy may be to commercialize alone or to pursue a hybrid arrangement (called co-promotion) whereby it licenses the innovation but retains the rights to participate in the commercialization process. The paper develops a game-theoretic model of the technology commercialization process and derives the conditions under which these different strategies are equilibrium outcomes. It then uses these to explain the pattern of arrangements pursued by biotech firms attempting to commercialize products in the pharmaceutical industry between 1978 and 2008. The results show that a firm is significantly more likely to use the hybrid strategy when there is a higher probability of commercializing a subsequent product in the same product field in future, when there are more firms competing to license the innovation, and when it is in a stronger financial position.

 

View all ESMT Working Papers in the ESMT Working Paper Series here. ESMT Working Papers are also available via SSRN, RePEc, EconStor, and the German National Library (DNB).

We test the proposition that individuals may experience a self-control conflict between short-term temptation to be selfish and better judgment to act pro-socially. Using a dictator game and a public goods game, we manipulated the likelihood that individuals identified self-control conflict, and we measured their trait ability to implement self-control strategies. Consistent with our hypothesis, we find that trait self-control exhibits a positive and significant correlation with pro-social behavior in the treatment that raises likelihood of conflict identification, but not in the treatment that reduces likelihood of conflict identification.

 

View all ESMT Working Papers in the ESMT Working Paper Series here. ESMT Working Papers are also available via SSRN, RePEc, EconStor, and the German National Library (DNB).

This book deals with how coaching interventions can drive a journey of transformational change at individual, team, and organizational levels. As a result, coaching interventions serve to create more reflective people, who in turn, create better organizations. The group coaching methodology, used by the INSEAD Global Leadership Center (IGLC) and adopted by the Center for Leadership Development Research (CLDR) at the European School of Technology and Management (ESMT), Berlin, is the basis for developing the theoretical assumptions behind the chapters. Through sharing research methodologies, and describing intervention and change techniques used in the leadership development and education of executive coaches, the book sheds light on how the 'magic' of coaching works, what coaches actually do, and how their clients respond. This book is a joint project between the IGLC and the CLDR. In compiling it, we have involved academics who conduct research, teach, and consult; leadership development coaches; change consultants; and executives who adopted IGLC methods for reflection on leadership development opportunities and challenges. We have also included people who have experienced IGLC methods in the process of their developmental journeys. They have collaborated, consulted their research and practice notes, analyzed data from inquiry projects, and shared their personal experiences in individual essays.

Trends, including those that seem peripheral, change consumers' aspirations, attitudes, and behaviors in ways that may not be obvious. The digital revolution, for instance, has led people to value offerings that provide instant gratification and help them multitask. This is as important for a company that sells sports shoes as it is for one that sells video games. There are three strategies for addressing the impact of trends: Infuse aspects of the trend into the category to augment traditional offerings, as Coach did with its lower-priced, youthful Poppy handbags. Combine aspects of the trend with attributes of the category to produce radical offerings that transcend the category, as Nike did with its Nike+ sports kit and web service. Counteract negative effects of the trend by developing products and services that reaffirm the category's values, as iToys did with its ME2 video game, which encourages children to be physically active.