In this paper, two pairs of complementors have to decide whether to merge and eventually bundle their products. Depending on the degree of competitive pressure in the market, either both pairs decide to merge (with or without bundling), or only one pair merges and bundles, while rivals remain independent. The latter case can very harmful for consumers as it brings surge in prices. We also consider the case in which one pair moves first. Interestingly, we find a parametric region where first movers merge but refrain from bundling, to not induce rivals to merge as well.

Gibrat’s Law of proportional effect (i.e. growth is independent of initial size) has been tested for firms for several decades. In this paper I test Gibrat’s Law for charities in England and Wales through time. Using a data set based on the population of registered charities from 1998 to 2009, I am able to test the ‘ex ante’ hypothesis that Gibrat’s Law holds over the long run for a sample of charities as well as testing Gibrat’s Legacy (that Gibrat’s Law holds for large and mature organisations), the ‘ex post’ hypothesis. I use nonparametric local polynomial smoothing techniques which are more robust to the issues of autocorrelation, sample selection and truncation that make the conventional parametric approaches to testing Gibrat’s Law difficult in practice. Results suggest that the dynamic processes driving growth in the charitable sectors may differ from those driving the growth of firms. Unlike for-profit firms Gibrat’s Law is found to generally hold when controlling for selection both ‘ex ante’ and ‘ex post’. Results may be driven by the absence of a minimum efficient scale which charities must achieve to survive and the different funding profiles of charities.

Using a counterfactual approach, this paper empirically investigates the impact of an educational programme recently introduced in the Province of Trento (North-East of Italy). The aim of the policy is to foster university enrolment of students from low-income families and to reduce inequalities in access to higher education. The programme, known as Grant 5B, consists in generous incentives: it targets the university students from low-income families and is awarded upon both merit and demonstrated financial need. We exploit data from an ad hoc survey conducted on a sample of upper secondary graduates and employ a regression discontinuity design to estimate the impact of the intervention on the university enrolment decisions. We find that the programme has no significant effect on enrolment rates, but it exerts a positive effect on redirecting students already bound for university to enrol outside the place of residence. Relying on the relative risk aversion theory, we explain why a relaxation of the eligibility rules based on merit might be more effective in reducing social inequalities in access to university.

Un tema àmpliament debatut en la literatura econòmica és fins a quin punt les millores en transport generen un impacte positiu sobre l’activitat econòmica. Des d’una perspectiva macroeconòmica, són múltiples els estudis que han confirmat que una millor dotació d’infraestructures afavoreix el creixement econòmic. Més recentment, aquesta relació s’ha contrastat a partir d’un enfocament microeconòmic que avalua l’efecte de les infraestructures sobre el comportament de les empreses. La hipòtesi subjacent és que la infraestructura, al millorar l’accessibilitat als mercats, té un efecte positiu sobre la productivitat de les empreses que se’n beneficien.

La defensa, a més de representar un servei públic i de constituir una activitat productiva, genera impactes econòmics sobre la resta de sectors de l’economia, com a conseqüència de les interaccions existents entre els diferents sectors implicats. Els principals resultats de l’estudi d’impacte econòmic de les activitats associades a la defensa en l’economia espanyola, en el qual han participat investigadors de la Càtedra de Mercats i Política Industrial, una unitat d’investigació de l’IEB finançada per ISDEFE, mostren que els efectes són especialment rellevants en els sectors de major contingut tecnològic i intensitat en l’ús del coneixement.