Four essays, or chapters, model the capital structure, governance, and investment decisions as part of a sequential game. Each chapter is separate in its context, assumptions, and conclusions. The titles of the chapters are below. Abstracts of each essay or chapter can be found at the beginning of each chapter. The titles of the chapters or essays are as follows: I. Managerial Ownership with Rent-Seeking Employees, II. Financing Professional Partnerships, III. Sunk Cost Efficiency with Identical Competitors, and IV. Business Stealing and Bankruptcy. With the exception of Chapter III, which is meant to complement Chapter IV, these essays argue that the structure of financial contracts can affect the real behavior of firms. The first chapter argues that financial governance policies affect the behavior of rank-and-file employees. In Chapter II, the governance and capital structure of professional service firms affects clients’ expectations of the firm’s quality. In Chapter IV, the enforcement of financial contracts by bankruptcy courts affects the number of firms that enter and exit the industry.

Garment sector trade unions have proved largely powerless to combat hypermobile transnational capital’s systematic extraction of surplus value from the newly industrialized Global South. Optimized conditions for accumulation coupled with the 2005 phase-out of the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) have meant a radical geographic reconfiguration of the globalised garment industry heavily in favour of capital over labour. The thesis approaches the global garment sector from multiple vantage points across the world with the goal of uncovering the obstacles to workers' organisation, examine workers' strategies of resistance, and analyse the changing composition of labour and capital within the clothing commodity chain. The thesis highlights five distinct but interconnected case studies including a transnational workers campaign from a garment factory in Honduras; a history and present-day feasibility of establishing a transnational collective bargaining from El Salvador to Turkey to Cambodia; the prospects for a countermovement in the organizing strategies at the bottom of the clothing commodity and supply chain in Bangalore; the growth of a 'full package' denim manufacturer in changing the relationship between 'buyers' and 'suppliers' on the outskirts of Bangalore; and finally a continuation of this analysis the case of a strike at a monopoly footwear supplier in China. The central research question is: How do workers build power and establish workers' rights in the globally hypermobile garment sector? Ultimately, what is demonstrated within this thesis is that the actions of garment workers shaped and circumscribed the actions of capital in the sector, and as capital transformed new landscapes for accumulation new vistas for opposition begin to emerge.

Accidents cause economic losses to the company as well as suffering and general discontent among the employees. With an increased global responsibility, companies are not only answerable for what goes on inside their own gates but also for retailers and customers. When the packaging becomes a danger, how will we know what to replace it with? At IMI Hydronic Engineering, employees hurt themselves on the metal staples that seal the cartons, but is replacing metal staples with plastic tape an economical and safely viable option? This thesis dives into the workplace environment and collects data from semi-structural interviews with the employees and an evaluation of internal accident records. The main focuses are safety and economics, although the economy aspect has had to stand back due to the lack of empirical data. The results show that the tools and systems in place to protect the employees, where applied, are working and the workers believe that their job could be executed with a lower risk, perhaps even without a loss of production. The suggestion to the company is that to fully understand the costs, a collection of data regarding the current costs is needed and that usage of gloves by the employees might help lower the number of accidents per year. Suggestions for further studies include ecological aspects, profit versus costs and product returns due to inadequate packaging.

Dans la mesure où la marque facilite le choix des consommateurs dans le spectre des variétés et qualités des produits, elle s'avère indispensable pour l'allocation efficace des ressources dans le processus productif, devenant ainsi un actif important des entreprises, au point qu'il existe désormais un « marché » sur lequel se rencontrent une offre et une demande de marques. En ce sens, le travail de recherche s'articule sur l'analyse économique de l'offre par les entreprises et les contrefacteurs et la demande de marques par les consommateurs. D'abord, il s'agit de démontrer que l'offre de marque est assimilable à un moyen de différenciation de l'entreprise sur un marché concurrentiel. La marque apparaît comme un vecteur important de l'activité entrepreneuriale, source de croissance. Ensuite, une autre partie de la recherche est consacrée à l'analyse de la marque du côté de la demande, et notamment à un aspect particulier de la demande de marque qui réside dans la demande de contrefaçon de marques. Nous proposons un modèle théorique d'achat de contrefaçons de marque avec un mécanisme de théorie des jeux sur la formation d'une norme sociale. Enfin, la présente étude tente de démontrer que les comportements de consommation de contrefaçon restent largement influencés par le cadre légal qui régit la contrefaçon de marque, et que l'efficacité des politiques de lutte contre ce phénomène est affectée par un élargissement du marché de la contrefaçon, lequel résulte de l'expansion croissante des nouvelles technologies et du développement de la consommation en réseau. / To the extent that brandname facilitates consumer choice in the spectrum of varieties and qualities of products, it is a determining factor of the efficient allocation of resources in the production process, thus becoming an important corporate asset, up to the point that there is now a "market" of brands where meet supply and demand for brands. Thus, this research is based on an economic analysis of the supply of brands by firms and counterfeiters and the demand for brands by consumers. First, it is to show that supplying a brand is comparable to a means of differentiating the firm in a competitive market, and the mark appears as an important driver of entrepreneurial activity and a source growth. Then, another part of the research is devoted to the analysis of the mark on the demand side of the market, including a particular aspect of the demand for trademark which is the demand for trademark infringement. We build a theoretical model of purchasing counterfeited brands with a mechanism of game theory on the formation of a social norm. Finally, we attempt to show that counterfeit consumption behavior remains largely influenced by the legal framework governing trademark infringement, and that the effectiveness of policies to fight against this phenomenon is affected by an expansion of the market counterfeiting, which results from the increasing expansion of new technologies and the growth of consumption in the network.

O setor de franquias representa uma oportunidade rara para a investigação do uso de formas plurais, visto que as empresas franqueadoras, em geral, adotam simultaneamente dois tipos de arranjos contratuais (unidades próprias e franqueadas). Para a investigação da criação e da evolução de sistemas de franquias, duas teorias destacam-se nos estudos empíricos publicados sobre o mercado norte-americano: teorias de Agente-Principal e de Escassez de Recursos. Assim, o presente estudo teve dois objetivos principais: primeiro, investigar a aplicabilidade dessas duas teorias para explicar a adoção e a evolução do sistema de franquias, no Brasil, considerando o período de 2000 a 2009; segundo, analisar a existência de estabilidade no uso de formas plurais por redes de franquias, ao longo dos anos. Diferenciando-se de outros estudos, foi empregada a técnica de análise de regressão múltipla de dados em painel, bem como foram realizadas estimativas com cinco diferentes formas funcionais (linear, lin-log, log-lin, log-linear e recíproco). Os resultados apurados para as três bases de dados definidas para este estudo não corroboram os argumentos da Teoria de Escassez de Recursos, porém são consistentes com as hipóteses baseadas na Teoria de Agente-Principal. Para as cinco dimensões testadas (esforço do franqueador, risco para o franqueado, custos de monitoramento, esforço do franqueado, risco de free-riding), relacionadas a essa segunda teoria, foram encontradas evidências que suportam as três primeiras, consistentes com estudos anteriores. Com relação às duas últimas dimensões, as proxies adotadas não apresentaram coeficiente significativo. Por fim, a análise da estabilidade do uso de formas plurais também revelou consistência entre os resultados apurados para empresas que atuam no Brasil e no mercado norteamericano. Os resultados indicam que, após alguns anos de adoção da franquia empresarial, as empresas tendem a realizar poucas modificações na proporção de unidades próprias (mix contratual). Verifica-se que a proporção de unidades próprias tende a cair rapidamente nos primeiros anos de adoção da franquia empresarial, estabilizando-se próximo a 20% do total da rede. Após cerca de dezesseis anos de operação com o sistema de franquias, as empresas tendem a ajustar o percentual de unidades próprias elevando-o ligeiramente. Depois, segue-se um novo período de estabilidade do mix contratual. / The franchise sector represents a rare opportunity for the investigation of the use of plural forms, as franchisors generally adopt simultaneously two types of contractual arrangements (company owned and franchised units). To investigate the creation and the development of franchise systems, two theories are frequently applied in empirical studies on the U.S. market: Principal-Agent Theory and Resource Scarcity Theory. The present investigation had two main objectives: first, to examine the applicability of these two theories to explain the adoption and the evolution of the franchise system in Brazil in the period from 2000 to 2009; and second, to analyze the existence of stability in the use of plural forms by franchise networks over the years. Differing from other studies previously published in Brazil, this investigation employed the panel data multiple regression technique, and estimates were made with five different functional forms (linear, lin-log, log-lin, log-linear and reciprocal). The results obtained for three databases defined for this study do not corroborate the arguments of the Resource Scarcity Theory, but are consistent with the hypotheses based on the Principal-Agent Theory. For the five dimensions tested in connection with this second theory (the franchisors effort, the risk to the franchisee, the cost of monitoring, the franchisees effort, the risk of free-riding) there was evidence supporting the first three, which is consistent with previous studies. Regarding the latter two dimensions, the proxies adopted did not show a significant coefficient. Finally, the analysis of the stability of the use of plural forms also revealed consistency between the results calculated for companies operating in Brazil, and those operating in the U.S. market. The results indicate that a few years after the adoption of franchising, companies tend to make few changes in the proportion of company owned units (contractual mix). The proportion of company owned units tends to fall rapidly in the early years of adoption of the franchising, stabilizing around 20% of the total network. After about sixteen years of operation with the franchise system, companies tend to adjust the percentage of company owned units, raising it slightly. Then follows a new period of stability of the contractual mix.

Cette thèse étudie Germinal et Au Bonheur des dames d'Émile Zola sous l'angle de l'histoire économique, de l'économie industrielle et du marketing. Elle cherche à déterminer ce que ces deux romans nous apprennent sur le fonctionnement des entreprises de la seconde moitié du XIXe siècle, et comment ils préfigurent l'actualité économique de la fin du XXe et celle du début du XXIe siècle. Les entreprises fictives de Zola sont non seulement représentatives des firmes réelles de l'époque, mais de plus elles rappellent certaines caractéristiques et stratégies de nos entreprises contemporaines. Par ses talents, l'extrême précision de sa méthode de recherche, son approche résolument différente de celle d'un historien de l'économie et son étonnante modernité en ce début du XXIe siècle, Zola rend la lecture de ces deux œuvres essentielle aux historiens de l'économie et aux économistes. La comparaison détaillée entre les entreprises fictives de ces romans et les réalités de l'industrie houillère et du commerce de détail de cette époque témoigne de leur véracité historique. Cette étude vise aussi à établir un parallèle entre les entreprises fictives de Zola et celles d'aujourd'hui en s'appuyant sur leurs caractéristiques et pratiques respectives en termes d'économie industrielle et de marketing. Enfin, cette thèse tente de discerner ce qui, dans le discours de beaucoup d'économistes contemporains sous-entend que l'origine des faits et pratiques économiques étudiés ici ne date que de quelques décennies. / This dissertation studies Émile Zola's Germinal and Au Bonheur des dames from the perspective of economic history, industrial economics and marketing. Its goal is to determine what these novels disclose on how companies functioned in the second half of the 19th century, and to which extent they anticipate the economic reality of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Zola's fictional companies are not only representative of the real companies of that era but they also reflect some characteristics and strategies of the real firms of the early 21st century. Zola's talents, his meticulous method of research, his technique of economic analysis which significantly differs from that of an economic historian, and his ongoing modernity today make these novels a must for economic historians and economists alike. The detailed comparison between the fictional companies in the two novels and the real conditions in the mining and the retail industries ! vouch for their historical credibility. This study also aims at drawing a parallel between Zola's fictional companies and today's firms by analyzing their respective characteristics and practices in terms of industrial economics and marketing. Furthermore, this dissertation attempts to understand why many contemporary economists seem to suggest that the origin of the economic facts and practices studied here date back a couple of decades only.

O setor de franquias representa uma oportunidade rara para a investigação do uso de formas plurais, visto que as empresas franqueadoras, em geral, adotam simultaneamente dois tipos de arranjos contratuais (unidades próprias e franqueadas). Para a investigação da criação e da evolução de sistemas de franquias, duas teorias destacam-se nos estudos empíricos publicados sobre o mercado norte-americano: teorias de Agente-Principal e de Escassez de Recursos. Assim, o presente estudo teve dois objetivos principais: primeiro, investigar a aplicabilidade dessas duas teorias para explicar a adoção e a evolução do sistema de franquias, no Brasil, considerando o período de 2000 a 2009; segundo, analisar a existência de estabilidade no uso de formas plurais por redes de franquias, ao longo dos anos. Diferenciando-se de outros estudos, foi empregada a técnica de análise de regressão múltipla de dados em painel, bem como foram realizadas estimativas com cinco diferentes formas funcionais (linear, lin-log, log-lin, log-linear e recíproco). Os resultados apurados para as três bases de dados definidas para este estudo não corroboram os argumentos da Teoria de Escassez de Recursos, porém são consistentes com as hipóteses baseadas na Teoria de Agente-Principal. Para as cinco dimensões testadas (esforço do franqueador, risco para o franqueado, custos de monitoramento, esforço do franqueado, risco de free-riding), relacionadas a essa segunda teoria, foram encontradas evidências que suportam as três primeiras, consistentes com estudos anteriores. Com relação às duas últimas dimensões, as proxies adotadas não apresentaram coeficiente significativo. Por fim, a análise da estabilidade do uso de formas plurais também revelou consistência entre os resultados apurados para empresas que atuam no Brasil e no mercado norteamericano. Os resultados indicam que, após alguns anos de adoção da franquia empresarial, as empresas tendem a realizar poucas modificações na proporção de unidades próprias (mix contratual). Verifica-se que a proporção de unidades próprias tende a cair rapidamente nos primeiros anos de adoção da franquia empresarial, estabilizando-se próximo a 20% do total da rede. Após cerca de dezesseis anos de operação com o sistema de franquias, as empresas tendem a ajustar o percentual de unidades próprias elevando-o ligeiramente. Depois, segue-se um novo período de estabilidade do mix contratual. / The franchise sector represents a rare opportunity for the investigation of the use of plural forms, as franchisors generally adopt simultaneously two types of contractual arrangements (company owned and franchised units). To investigate the creation and the development of franchise systems, two theories are frequently applied in empirical studies on the U.S. market: Principal-Agent Theory and Resource Scarcity Theory. The present investigation had two main objectives: first, to examine the applicability of these two theories to explain the adoption and the evolution of the franchise system in Brazil in the period from 2000 to 2009; and second, to analyze the existence of stability in the use of plural forms by franchise networks over the years. Differing from other studies previously published in Brazil, this investigation employed the panel data multiple regression technique, and estimates were made with five different functional forms (linear, lin-log, log-lin, log-linear and reciprocal). The results obtained for three databases defined for this study do not corroborate the arguments of the Resource Scarcity Theory, but are consistent with the hypotheses based on the Principal-Agent Theory. For the five dimensions tested in connection with this second theory (the franchisors effort, the risk to the franchisee, the cost of monitoring, the franchisees effort, the risk of free-riding) there was evidence supporting the first three, which is consistent with previous studies. Regarding the latter two dimensions, the proxies adopted did not show a significant coefficient. Finally, the analysis of the stability of the use of plural forms also revealed consistency between the results calculated for companies operating in Brazil, and those operating in the U.S. market. The results indicate that a few years after the adoption of franchising, companies tend to make few changes in the proportion of company owned units (contractual mix). The proportion of company owned units tends to fall rapidly in the early years of adoption of the franchising, stabilizing around 20% of the total network. After about sixteen years of operation with the franchise system, companies tend to adjust the percentage of company owned units, raising it slightly. Then follows a new period of stability of the contractual mix.

L’objet de cette thèse est l’analyse du comportement d’innovation des entreprises en Tunisie. L’analyse portesur les conditions économiques qui motivent les entreprises à innover, celles qui orientent leurs activités d’innovationet celles qui rendent difficile leur succès. La thèse est organisée en deux parties. La première partieprésente une relecture des théories modernes de l’innovation, les caractéristiques de l’économie tunisienneet celles de l’enquête sur l’innovation en Tunisie, utilisée dans l’analyse. La seconde partie de la thèse présenteles résultats des analyses statistiques et économétriques des déterminants de l’innovation en Tunisie.L’analyse est affinée autour des questions plus spécifiques, particulièrement pertinentes dans le cadre d’unpays en développement comme la Tunisie et en rapport avec les politiques mises en oeuvre et la stratégiede spécialisation internationale retenue dans ce pays. L’analyse conduit à un premier tableau des activitésd’innovations en Tunisie, qui nous amène à nous interroger sur la relation entre les stratégies d’exportationet les activités d’innovation des firmes. Une autre dimension internationale des stratégies de développementmodernes concerne le rôle des investissements directs étrangers dans l’innovation. La thèse s’interroge, endernier lieu, sur les dimensions de l’économie tunisienne qui sont perçues par les firmes comme affaiblissantleurs capacités à innover. / The purpose of this thesis is the analysis of the innovation behaviour of firms in Tunisia. The analysis focuseson the economic conditions that motivate firms to innovate, those which direct their innovation activitiesand those that make difficult their success. The thesis is organized into two parts. The first one presents apresentation of modern theories of innovation, the characteristics of the Tunisian economy and those of thesurvey on innovation in Tunisia, used in the analysis. The second part of the thesis presents the econometricand statistical results of the analysis of determinants of innovation in Tunisia. The analysis is refined on morespecific questions, particularly relevant in the context of a developing country like Tunisia and related withthe implemented policies and the strategy of international specialization chosen in this country. The analysisleads to a first picture of innovation activities in Tunisia, which leads us to wonder about the relationshipbetween export strategies and innovation activities of firms. Another international dimension of the modernstrategies of development concerns the role of the foreign direct investments in the innovation. The thesisexamines, finally, the dimensions of the Tunisian economy which are perceived by firms as weakening theirability to innovate.

Infrastructure—communications, energy, transport, waste, and water networks—is critical for economic activity and social well-being. Practitioners, politicians, and economists advocate high levels of investment in infrastructure under the rubric of 'planning for growth' (or the 'push' paradigm). This paradigm relies on complex public-private arrangements in the name of public interest. These seemingly reasonable arrangements are, however, not delivering their promise. Evidence shows that the needs of infrastructure users in rich and poor countries are not being met, many private providers of infrastructure earn rich returns, assets are rarely built in time or on budget, and there is tremendous waste in the operation of many infrastructure industries. No other sector could survive the profligacy and slack common in infrastructure. I distil the following primary propositions of the accepted wisdom, which is inspired by mainstream economics: First, infrastructure assets necessarily entail high sunk costs and large economies of scale. Consequently, assets last for very long periods of time, and they cannot be readily moved. Second, infrastructure outputs are homogeneous. Third, one network fits all users (large and small). Fourth, infrastructure users, even large ones, are likely to have weak bargaining power in procurement of infrastructure outputs. I challenge these four propositions of the conventional wisdom by putting forward alternative hypotheses. First, instead of being monolithic and costly, infrastructures can be assembled (and disassembled) as flexible modules for specific users in specific places. Drawing on option pricing theory in quantitative finance, I recast infrastructures as 'portfolios of real options'. Second, infrastructure outputs are, in fact, heterogeneous and differentiated services. Third, one infrastructure network cannot fit all users, either today or in the future. Users are remarkably heterogeneous, not only in terms of unique user preferences but also in terms of spatial location. Infrastructure networks need to evolve in tandem with user needs or risk spatial, temporal, and relational obsolescence. Finally, users, large and small, are adept at exerting strong bargaining power in procuring infrastructure both prior to and after rendering durable and immobile investments. Users also strategically deploy intermediaries, e.g. futures and Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchanges, and real estate developers, to negotiate private contracts for infrastructure services. These findings are supported by two case studies. The first case study details the process by which ThyssenKrupp, a large steel company, bargained for its infrastructure by locating to a manufacturing site in the U.S. The second case study focuses on residents of Lavasa, one of the largest property developments in India. Here, small users of infrastructure exert strong bargaining power with the aid of intermediaries—the real estate developer and the property asset manager. New departures in infrastructure provision are urgently needed at a practical level. Poor investments rendered today—particularly if costly, inflexible, and durable—will suffocate tomorrow’s possibilities. The spatial, temporal, and relational approach proposed in this dissertation begins to offer an alternative account of how tomorrow can be modularly shaped.

This thesis presents three papers within the field of dynamic macroeconomics. The first paper, entitled “Medium-frequency cycles and the remarkable near trend-stationarity of output”, presents a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model with endogenous growth, capable of reconciling the observed large medium-frequency fluctuations in output, with its long run (near) trend-stationarity. This requires a model in which standard business cycle shocks lead to highly persistent movements around trend, without significantly altering the trend itself. The robustness of the trend also requires that scale effects are eliminated both in the long and short runs. In an estimated version of the model, a financial-type shock to the stock of ideas emerges as the key driver of the medium frequency cycle. The second paper, entitled “Learning from learners”, is an intervention into two long running debates: the first, on whether learnability may be used to rule out explosive paths for inflation in New Keynesian models, and the second, into whether Taylor rule parameters may be identified from observing the data. We find that in an economy populated with traditional macroeconomic learners, Taylor rule parameters can always be identified by sophisticated econometric techniques. Furthermore, when all agents in the economy use such sophisticated techniques, stationary sunspot solutions are readily learnable, and there is no guarantee of convergence to a stationary solution even in the “determinate” case. This implies that learnability cannot be used for equilibrium selection. Finally, in the third paper, “Efficient simulation of DSGE models with inequality constraints” (joint with Michael Paetz), we present a new algorithm for the simulation of models subject to inequality constraints, such as the zero lower bound on nominal interest rates. Our algorithm is shown to deliver higher accuracy than all other non-global algorithms, and leading speed. We go on to provide a number of applications of our algorithm.