Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

The Link Between Capital Structure And Product Market Competition: Theory And Evidence, Lee Greer

Doctoral Dissertations

The relationship between capital structure and product market competition is examined using a theoretical model and two econometric analyses. In an extension of Glazer (1994), a theoretical model is derived that allows a quantity leader and follower to issue debt and then twice play a sequential product market game, after which each firm must either repay its debt in full or go bankrupt. It is demonstrated that the follower maximizes operating profit irrespective of capital structure but that the levered quantity leader in every period produces more than the Stackelberg profit-maximizing level of output. As such, the industry characterized by …

Estimating Degree Of Market Power And Price-Response Strategies In A Product-Differentiated Oligopoly: The Case Of Canned Tuna Industry In A Local Market, Apichart Daloonpate

Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation estimates the degree of market power and strategic-price responses among brands in the canned tuna industry in a local market. Weekly scanner data on the purchases of canned-tuna in Knoxville, Tennessee collected by Information Resources, Incorporated (IRI) were used for the estimation of the degree of market power and strategic-price responses. Four canned tuna brands were investigated including the three leading brands, Starkist, Chicken of the Sea, and Bumble Bee, and the competitive small-market share brands aggregated into Allother.

There are two empirical parts. The first part focuses on estimation of the degrees of market power and strategic-price …

Per Mile Emissions Taxes And Lump Sum Emissions Taxes: A Comparative Study Using A Mathematical Approach To Demand Estimation, Robert Paul Culp

Doctoral Dissertations

The primary purpose of this study was to compare two common emissions based taxes by implementing a mathematical approach to consumer demand estimation for new vehicles. The model developed allows the researcher to derive demand from observed firm output and market prices using assumptions about firm and consumer behavior, and market structure. The advantage of this revealed demand approach is that it does not require the specification of the consumer’s utility function or any firm’s production function. In addition, the own price and cross price elasticities of vehicle demand are determined without statistical regression.

The model developed in this paper …