Economics Commons^™

Vertical Integration In Unregulated Industries With Essential Facilities, Felipe Balmaceda Assoc Prof., Eduardo Savedra Prof

Felipe Balmaceda

In this paper, we consider a market that is operated by a non-integrated monopoly upstream that owns an important essential facility and an duopolistic market downstream that is facing entry in the monopolistic upstream market. We show that: (i) for small fixed costs of building a new facility the unique equilibrium entails vertical integration for all firms and duplication of essential facilities; (ii) for an intermediate range, the unique equilibrium entails full vertical integration and a shared-facility; and (iii) for large fixed costs, the unique equilibrium entails vertical integration by the incumbent, no integration by the entrant and a shared-facility. …

Don’T Forget The Lawyers: Legal Human Capital And The Role Of Lawyers In Supporting The Rule Of Law, Gillian K. Hadfield

Gillian K Hadfield

No abstract provided.

Intergenerational Mobility And Interracial Inequality: The Return To Family Values, Patrick Leon Mason

Patrick L. Mason

This paper investigates two questions. First, what is the relative importance of the components of childhood family environment – parental values versus parental class status – for young adult economic outcomes? Second, are interracial differences in labor market outcomes fully explained by differences in family environment? We find that both family values and family class status affect intergenerational mobility and interracial inequality. Consideration of racial differences in parental values and class status alters but does not eliminate the impact of race on the labor market outcomes of young adults.

Valuing Conflicting Public Information About A New Technology: The Case Of Irradiated Foods, M C. Rousu, J F. Shogren

Jason Shogren

Scientists and advocates can disagree on the value of new products or technologies, such as growth hormones, genetically modified organisms, and food irradiation. Both sides of the debate disseminate information to the public hoping to influence public opinion. This study assesses the economic value of both pro and anti public information using food irradiation as a case study. The value of information sources is estimated in isolation and in combination. In isolation, the results indicate each set of information has value. In combination, only the anti-irradiation information is found to have net positive value (persuading some consumers to purchase non-irradiated …

Chief Justice Mm Ismail Of Nagore: A Great Indian, The Pride Of Tamil Nadu And A Perfect Muslim, Vikas Kumar

Vikas Kumar

No abstract provided.

Szerzõdési Szabadság És Paternalizmus: Adalékok A Szerzõdési Jog Közgazdasági Elemzéséhez [Freedom Of Contract And Paternalism: A Contribution To The Economics Of Contract Law] , Peter Cserne

Péter Cserne

No abstract provided.

A Mathematical Regression Of The U.S. Gross Private Domestic Investment 1959-2001, Byron E. Bell

Byron E. Bell

No abstract provided.

The Accident Externality From Driving, Aaron S. Edlin, Pinar Karaca Mandic

Aaron Edlin

The Welfare Effects Of Pfiesteria-Related Fish Kills: A Contingent Behavior Analysis Of Seafood Consumers, George R. Parsons, Ash O. Morgan, John C. Whitehead, Tim C. Haab

George Parsons

The Economics Of Teacher Quality, Darius Lakdawalla

Darius N. Lakdawalla

Concern is often voiced about the quality of American schoolteachers. This paper suggests that, while the relative quality of teachers is declining, this decline may be the result of technological changes that have raised the price of skilled workers outside teaching without affecting the productivity of skilled teachers. Growth in the price of skilled workers can cause schools to lower the relative quality of teachers and raise teacher quantity instead. Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth demonstrates that wage and schooling are good measures of teacher quality. Analysis of U.S. census microdata then reveals that the relative schooling …

Should Good Patents Come In Small Packages? A Welfare Analysis Of Intellectual Property Bundling, Richard J. Gilbert, Michael L. Katz

Richard Gilbert

Intellectual property owners often hold the rights to several patents, each of which is essential to make or use a product. We compare the welfare properties of package licenses, under which a licensee pays the same fee regardless of the number of technologies licensed, with component licenses, under which each technology is licensed separately and there is no quantity discount. A central finding is that a long-term package license can induce incentives to invent around patents and invest in complementary assets that are closer to their socially optimal levels than are those induced by a long-term component license. We also …

Demand And Supply Curves: Rotations Versus Shifts, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

Robert L Sexton

There is no abstract for this brief contribution.

Demand And Supply Curves: Rotations Versus Shifts, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

Robert L Sexton

There is no abstract for this brief contribution.

Demand And Supply Curves: Rotations Versus Shifts, Philip E. Graves, Robert L. Sexton

PHILIP E GRAVES

There is no abstract for this brief contribution.

The Nonprofit Sector And Industry Performance, Darius Noshir Lakdawalla, Tomas Philipson

Darius N. Lakdawalla

Given the importance of nonprofit industries in the economy, little analysis has been conducted as to whether the behavior of such industries differs from that of for profit industries. Extending previous firm-level analyses, we propose a neoclassical theory with an endogenous nonprofit sector. Our analysis implies that nonprofit firms have a competitive advantage over for-profit firms, so that marginal changes in the industry operate through the for-profit sector. As such, marginal industry behavior is identical to that of a for-profit industry, and nonprofit regulations may have a limited impact or even no impact on overall industry performance. Our theory has …

Are Successive Generations Getting Wealthier, And If So, Why? Evidence From The 1990s, William G. Gale, Karen M. Pence

Karen M. Pence

No abstract provided.

Individual’S Religiosity Enhances Trust: Latin American Evidence For The Puzzle, Maximo Rossi, Pablo Brañas, Dayna Zaclicever

Maximo Rossi

This paper explores the effect of religious observance and affiliation to the dominant religion (Catholicism) on trust in institutions, towards others and market attitudes. The analysis is performed using a Latin American database of twenty thousand respondents from 2004 by means of ordered probit models. The most interesting results are: i) Trust toward others is positively correlated with religious observance and with Catholic affiliation. ii) There is a positive correlation between trust in the government, in the police, in the armed forces, in the judiciary and in the banking system and religious practice in general. Identical positive results are obtained …

Learning About One’S Relative Position And Subjective, Maximo Rossi, Daniel Miles

Maximo Rossi

In th is paper we show evidence which suggests th at ch anges in an individual’s relative position affects his subjective well-being. In this sense, our findings are in line with those who argue th at a felicity function sh ould tak e into account both, absolute and relative position. Our result are based on a simple experimental design to discuss whether learning about one’s relative position af fects subjective well-being. Additionally, using non-experimental data we find a significant association between subjective well-being and relative wage.

Notas Panorámicas De La Literatura Sobre Capital Social Y Desarrollo: El Papel De La Religión, Maximo Rossi, Dayna Zaclicever

Maximo Rossi

La investigación empírica llevada a cabo en los últimos años sobre los determinantes del crecimiento económico ha tendido a incorporar como variables explicativas factores políticos y sociales, ante la evidencia surgida de los análisis tradicionales de que las diferencias en el desempeño económico de los países no pueden ser explicadas exclusivamente por factores económicos. Una de las vertientes de esta corriente de investigación considera el papel de la cultura, de la cual la religión es un componente importante. Si bien la historia del análisis económico de la religión puede ser rastreada por lo menos hasta Adam Smith, en las últimas …

Health Insurance As A Two-Part Pricing Contract, Darius Noshir Lakdawalla, Neeraj Sood

Darius N. Lakdawalla

Monopolies appear throughout medical care markets, as a result of patents, limits to the extent of the market, or the presence of unique inputs and skills. Economists typically think of such monopolies as necessary evils or even pure inefficiencies. However, in the health care industry, the deadweight costs of monopoly may be much smaller or even absent. Health insurance, frequently implemented as an ex ante premium coupled with an ex post co-payment per unit consumed, operates as a two-part pricing contract. This allows monopolists to extract consumer surplus without inefficiently constraining quantity. This view of health insurance contracts has several …

Similarity And Convergence (S-C) Plot, Luca De Benedictis

Luca De Benedictis

This is figure 5 from the paper Economic integration and similarity in trade structures with Lucia Tajoli. We called it S-C plot, Similarity and Convergence plot. It shows on the vertical axis the level of self-similarity (with respect to a self reference level, in our case the trade composition in the initial year of the time series) and on the horizontal axis the level of convergence with the benchmark case (in our case the contemporaneous trade composition of the EU15). South-East movements mean a change in self-similarity and a convergence toward the EU15 trade composition. R code will follow.

David And Goliath: Small Banks In An Era Of Consolidation, Paola Bongini, Maria Di Battista, Emma Zavarrone

Paola Bongini

No abstract provided.

Natural Kantian Or Zoo Economicus? Evolutionary Theories Of Selfishness And Altruism Among Men And Beasts, Ted C. Bergstrom

Ted C Bergstrom

This paper addresses the question of whether our evolutionary history suggests that humans are likely to be individually selected selfish maximizers or group selected altruists. It surveys models from the literature of evolutionary biology in which groups are formed and dissolved and where the reproductive success of individuals is determined by their payoffs in a game played within groups. We show that if groups are formed randomly and reproductive success of group founders is determined by a multi-person prisoners’ dilemma game, then selfish behavior will prevail over maximization of group payoffs. However, interesting models can be found for which “group …

Pioneering Multilatralism: The Sugar Agreements 1864 – 1912, Heitor Moura Filho

Heitor Moura Filho

This paper examines the negotiations which led to the Brussels Convention of 1902 for the abolition of subsidies on sugar exports, showing how the practice of multilateral commodity trade negotiations was an outcome of this experience. Encompassing diverse fiscal systems, these negotiations began a process of pluri-national harmonization of taxation criteria and regulations, which forced changes to national statutes. They also initiated new forms of economic negotiations and coexistence. When war broke out in 1914, undoing agreements and inaugurating a new era of strict government control of economic activities, multilateralism had been established as a conceptual alternative and a practical …

Product-Specific Rules Of Origin In Us And Eu Preferential Trade Agreements: An Assessment, Bolormaa Tumurchudur, Olivier Cadot, Jaime De Melo, Céline Carrère

Olivier Cadot

Building on earlier work by Estevadeordal, we construct a synthetic index (R-index) intending to capture the restrictiveness on market access due to product specific rules of origin (PSRO) that apply at the tariff-line level. The R-index is constructed for rules of origins under NAFTA and under the single list applying to PANEURO, the new regime applying to all EU preferential trade agreements. The R-index highlights how identical PSRO have different impacts across countries, and how the complexity of PSRO varies across sectors. Having controlled for the extent of tariff preference at the tariff-line level, the R-index contributes to account for …

Urban Resurgence And The Consumer City, Joshua D. Gottlieb, Edward L. Glaeser

Joshua D. Gottlieb

Una Gara Al Massacro: Incentivi, Premi E Prestazioni Dei Gruppi Terroristici Legati Ad Al Qaeda, Raul Caruso, Andrea Locatelli

Raul Caruso

Abstract: L’obiettivo di questo lavoro è di applicare un modello economico, la 'contest theory', per comprendere il processo con cui al Qaeda recluta e premia gli aspiranti terroristi. In base al modello, al Qaeda può essere considerato come l’organizzatore di una gara che attribuisce un premio indivisibile Poiché l’obiettivo di al Qaeda è di diffondere il terrore, gli sforzi di un potenziale affiliato possono essere ‘misurati’ osservando il numero di vittime che riesce a causare. Di conseguenza, la crescita e la diffusione degli attacchi terroristici su scala globale può essere spiegata come il tentativo da parte di gruppi in competizione …

The Cenla Economy: Review And Update Of Recent Developments In The Rapides Foundation Service Area, Dave N. Norris, Aijun Besio

Dave Norris

No abstract provided.

Long-Lived Consumers, Intertemporal Bundling, And Tacit Collusion, James D. Dana, Yuk-Fai Fong

James D Dana Jr

In a repeated price game with long but finitely-lived consumers, the use of staggered long-term contracts allows firms to earn positive profits for a wider range of discount factors and market structures than without intertemporal bundling. Because consumers anticipate a price war, intertemporal bundling reduces the gains from business-stealing while leaving the cost of the resulting price war is unchanged. Though less empirically relevant, we also show that in a repeated price game with infinitely-lived, and arbitrarily-small, consumers, firms can use a menu of single-period and infinite-length contracts, to earn strictly positive profits for any discount factor or market structure.

The Records Of The Federal Reserve Board Of Governors In The National Archives Of The United States, Gary Richardson

Gary Richardson

The archives of the Federal Reserve System are found in Record Group 82 at the National Archives of the United States. This article describes the materials available in that record group and ways to locate useful documents. Section i provides a brief history of the Federal Reserve; it describes the organization of the institution and how it changed over time. The focus is on issues important for understanding the types of documents that may or will not be found in the archives. Section ii describes the process by which the documents were generated and preserved. Section iii provides a broad …