Price uncertainty and vertical integration: an examination of petrochemical firms

The petrochemical industry employs assets subject to temporal and site specificity. The OPEC oil price shocks of the 1970s made it difficult to write contracts covering business dealings in the industry. I use this production and economic setting as a natural experiment to test transaction cost theory. In support of the theory, I find that input price uncertainty in the 1970s positively affected the extent of vertical integration by firms into input stages. Moreover, the positive reaction of vertical integration to price uncertainty mainly occurs in transactions subject to asset specificity. I also examine price controls and market power as alternative explanations for vertical integration in the industry, but fail to find support for these hypotheses.     

You’re the Only One,or Simply the Best. Hotels differentiation,competition, agglomeration,and pricing

Drawing on competition, signalling and agglomeration perspectives, we investigate how vertical and horizontal differentiation influence price, and how hotel competition and agglomeration may moderate any such effects. We argue that vertical differentiation should include online reputation to complement category, and that hotel clustering can provide benefits for incumbents. Hypotheses are tested using quantile regression on a sample of 1870 hotels. In order to account for any service dimensions, an index of differentiation is estimated. We found that local competition and agglomeration moderates the relationship between differentiation and pricing. Furthermore, online reputation effects are more intense for low priced hotels. Indeed, when competition is intense, the positive effect of horizontal differentiation is lower for low priced hotels. Similarly, hotel clustering reinforces the impact of category on price, but it reduces the benefits of offering more services.     

货币政策与异质性企业杠杆率——基于纵向产业结构的视角

当前,高杠杆已成为我国金融风险的重要源头,围绕结构性去杠杆来防范化解金融风险的基本思路,各方提出了一系列去杠杆措施。在此背景下,本文建立了一个包含“金融摩擦”与“资产负债表衰退”双重机制的动态随机一般均衡(DSGE)模型,探讨了中央银行紧缩性货币政策对国有企业与民营企业杠杆率的影响机制。本文研究认为,第一,中央银行提高政策利率会降低国有企业杠杆率,但会以民营企业杠杆率上升与总产出略微下降为代价;第二,伴随着政策利率上升,纵向产业联结度下降将会扩大国有企业与非金融企业整体杠杆率下降幅度,并减小民营企业杠杆率上升幅度;第三,货币政策对非金融企业杠杆率进行响应有助于提高社会福利,但效果并不显著。由此,本文研究认为,推动经济去杠杆需要在管住“货币”的同时,深入研究财政政策、宏观审慎等其他政策选项的可行性。在推动去杠杆的总过程中,货币政策要管住货币“总闸门”,宏观审慎政策要把住风险“总关口”。     

Vertical transmission of overweight: Evidence from a sample of English adoptees

Vertical influences can significantly shape children overweight by affecting both genetics and the environment children are exposed to. This paper examines the vertical (parental) transmission of child overweight drawing upon a fifteen year sample of English adults and their children, both adopted and biological, for which we can retrieve clinical measures height and weight. We find that, when both parents are overweight, children exhibit an increased likelihood of overweight, irrespective of whether they are adopted or biological children. When both parents are obese as opposed to overweight the picture is different. We find that the likelihood of child overweight increases by 16.7 percentage points among natural (non-adopted) children but only by 4.5 percentage points among adopted children. This suggests that the transmission of overweight when both parents are obese is not merely genetic, and what has been called vertical or parental transmission plays a non-negligible role. Our findings are validated by are a battery of robustness checks.     

基于纵向市场机制的产业技术进步协同效应研究

理清产业链与创新链的链接模式，发挥产业间技术进步协同效应，全面提升产业链水平，不断丰富经济整体技术内涵并提升创新能力，是实现高质量发展的必然要求。利用创新货币外部性理论，提出纵向市场机制具有知识、产品价格非均衡信息的传递功能，通过替代效应、结构效应引致上下游关联产业在创新知识利用与创新方向选择上的联系，进而形成产业间技术进步协同效应。使用我国2005—2017年6期投入产出表以及其它相关数据，构建面板数据模型进行实证检验得到：①当前我国纵向市场机制作用下的产业间技术进步协同作用显著，并表现为下游—上游协同效应；②由技术进步的细分项看，上游—下游前向联系产生了显著技术改进协同效应，下游—上游后向联系则产生了显著技术效率提升协同效应，分别通过替代效应与结构效应实现技术进步协同。据此，我国在实施区域性或宏观创新科技政策时，需关注新兴产业与既有产业的有效关联，通过引入新兴产业创新生产方式实现区域内关联产业的生产结构效应，并通过加速高精尖知识流动实现区域内关联产业的创新替代效应，构建优势技术产业集群，避免在产业技术发展上出现“孤岛效应”。     

Westernization of Asian diets and the transformation of food systems: Implications for research and policy

Rapid economic and income growth, urbanization, and globalization are leading to a dramatic shift of Asian diets away from staples and increasingly towards livestock and dairy products, vegetables and fruit, and fats and oils. While the diversification of diets away from the traditional dominance of rice with rising incomes is expected and observed, current food consumption patterns are showing signs of convergence towards a Western diet. The diet transition is characterized by increased consumption of: wheat; temperate fruit and vegetables and high protein and energy dense food. Globalization and the consequent global interconnectedness of the urban middle class, is the driving force behind the convergence of diets. The rapid spread of global supermarket chains and fast food restaurants is reinforcing the above trends.     

Vertical integration versus vertical separation: An equilibrium model

In this paper, the role of strategic forces in vertical relationships is examined. Using a simple model of differentiated products with symmetric demands and costs, the Perfect equilibrium to a vertical integration-vertical separation game between manufacturers is determined. Given the assumptions of the model, I show that the manufacturer's decision whether to vertically integrate or to remain separate from its retailer depends on the degree of product differentiation. I show that when the products are poor substitutes, the only Perfect equilibrium is vertical integration by both manufacturers. As the products become closer substitutes, an additional Perfect equilibrium appears, both firms vertically separated. For manufacturers, the vertically separated equilibrium always Pareto dominates the vertical integration equilibrium when both equilibria exist.This paper is a revision of Chapter 4 of my Ph.D. dissertation. I wish to thank my Senior Supervisor, Professor Thomas W. Ross, for his many helpful comments. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Canadian Economic Association meetings in Kingston, June 1991. Helpful comments and suggestions were also received from Keith Acheson, Leigh Anderson, Jeffrey Church, Chantale Lacasse, Frank Mathewson, and Don McFetridge and two anonymous referees. I am responsible for any errors or omissions.     

战略联盟:专业化分工合作的一般均衡交易规制结构

为获取生产可能性曲线的扩张而产生的分工经济性,是具有互补性资源、核心技能和专长企业构建专业化分工合作战略联盟组织的先决条件.对体现内生专业化分工合作模型的超边际分析表明,战略联盟专业化分工组织结构模式可以作为决策的内生结果而出现;联盟企业均衡的分工水平和高效的交易效率,保证了战略联盟成为共创联盟价值的企业间交易关系一般均衡规制结构的制度安排.     

Vertical Relationships in the Automotive Industry: Do They Matter?

In this note we examine how vertical relationships are related to the efficiency of the operations in the automotive production chain. We first provide an overview of the nature of supplier arrangements by comparing current practices in the countries Japan, US, and Germany. Current best practices show that vertical linkages in the automotive industry have shifted away from simple market transactions and now involve closer long-term interactions coupled however with subtle incentive elements. We outline the economic issues which are present in vertical relationships and include a brief account of differing theoretical perspectives. Then, we use a refined methodology to measure productivity at the industry level for the supplier industries automotive parts and metalworking and for the final assembly industry. It turns out that Japanese industries achieve the highest productivity level at the supplier and at the assembly level. We interpret the empirical results and relate the differences in vertical arrangemen s with the efficiency of both parts in the relation.     

The effects of regional trade agreements on FDI by its origin and type: Evidence from U.S. multinational enterprises activities

The effects of regional trade agreements (RTAs) on foreign direct investment (FDI) depend on both the origin and type of FDI. To estimate the various effects of RTAs, I differentiate between various types of FDI by using data on the sales destinations of foreign subsidiaries of U.S. multinational enterprises (MNEs), while also addressing the endogeneity of RTA formation. Consistent with the theory of MNEs, I find that RTAs reduce horizontal FDI from intra-RTA countries and increase export-platform and total FDI from extra-RTA countries. Moreover, the overall effects of RTAs are positive for extra-RTA FDI, but inconclusive for intra-RTA FDI. The results also support the effect of integrated markets’ economies of scale in inducing extra-RTA FDI.