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The Review of Corporate Finance Studies Vol. 5 No. 2 2016

Innovation, Competition, and Investment Timing

Yrjö Koskinen1; Joril Maeland2

1 The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania and Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary · 2 NHH – Norwegian School of Economics

Abstract

In our model multiple innovators compete against each other by submitting investment proposals to an investor. The investor chooses the least expensive proposal and the timing of the investment. Innovators privately learn the cost of investing. The investor has to compensate the innovators for their reservation wages, but competition makes screening easier and helps to erode innovators’ informational rents. Consequently, competition leads to faster innovation, because the investor has less need to delay expensive investments. With an endogenous number of innovators investment timing becomes first best.

DOI
10.1093/rcfs/cfw002
Volume
5
Issue
2
Pages
166-199
Language
en
Sources
openalex bibtex:phds-export.bib crossref

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