Industrial Organization

Description

In the industrial economics research group, researchers combine the latest theories with empirical work about the organisation of firms, markets and industries.

Our current research has focused on:
• Relationships between upstream and downstream firms, competition and regulation.
• R&D and innovation. Theoretical work on licensing policies for innovations, cooperative research agreements, network formation and stability. Empirical work on the role of sunk costs for R&D decisions, and as a determinant of internal or external R&D activities. Analysis of R&D productivity, in-house activities and their continuity on the number and nature of innovations achieved.
• International oligopoly regarding the study of the internationalization strategies of firms. Analysis of the FDI vs. Exports decisions and their environmental impact; theoretical and applied work on the self-selection and the learning-by-exporting hypotheses concerning the relation between export activities and productivity.