Vassar College Digital Library

Vassar Scholarship

Vassar Scholarship, the institutional repository formerly known as Digital Window, reflects the research and scholarly output of the Vassar College community.  It provides access to a variety of collections, including senior theses and projects across a wide range of disciplines.

Credibility and credulity: how beliefs about beliefs affect entry incentives

Publication Date
2006-November-13
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

In this note we investigate the infringement (entry) decision for a firm facing an incumbent patent holder with uncertain patent rights. The entrant risks a dispute by entering, resulting in either a settlement (licensing) or litigation and trial. Using the...

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Do NGOs make a difference: a case study of rural Rajasthan

Publication Date
2008-July-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

An empirical analysis of effects of NGO interventions on health and education of women and girls in rural Rajasthan employs an original micro data set to address criticisms of NGO effectiveness. Isolating the effects of the NGO's programs from personal...

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Learning by suing: structural estimates of court errors in patent litigation

Publication Date
2006-November-07
Document Type
Authors
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

This paper presents structural estimates of the probability of validity, and the probability of Type I and Type II errors by courts in patent litigation. Patents are modeled as uncertain property rights, and implications of the model are tested using...

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The political economy of conditionality: an empirical analysis of World Bank Enforcement

Publication Date
2008-January-01
Document Type
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

Traditional aid conditionality has been attacked as ineffective in part because aid agencies - notably the World Bank - often fail to enforce conditions. This pattern undermines the credibility of conditionality, weakening incentives to implement policy reforms. The standard critique...

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The value of certainty in intellectual property rights: stock market reactions to patent litigation

Publication Date
2005-November-15
Document Type
Authors
Department or Program
Document Type
Abstract

Using a sample of patents litigated between 1977 and 1997, I estimate stock market reactions to patent litigation decisions and to patent grants. I find that the resolution of uncertainty over validity and infringement is worth as much to the...

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