European Integration and Market Structure in the Soft Drinks Industry

The focus of this paper is the impact of European integration in the soft drinks industry. It is shown that the geographic level at which competition takes place has moved from the national to the European stage. We apply the new theory of industrial structure where the essential notion is that in endogenous sunk cost industries such as soft drinks, the traditional inverse structure-size relation may break down, due to the escalation of overhead fixed expenditures. The evidence is consistent with the theory. Moreover, it is shown how the persistence of a first mover advantage may affect market concentration. Finally, and in response to exogenous structural change, significant restructuring and increased multinationality has been observed among the leading manufacturers.     

THE PECULIAR INTERNATIONAL ECONOMICS OF PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL IN EUROPE

Most European industries have a history of gradually opening international markets, with growing international capital mobility and increasing free trade of goods and services. However, although labour markets have been officially deregulated as well, there is much less international mobility of labour, mainly due to cultural and social barriers. An apparent exception to the rule been the industry of professional team sports in Europe, where the Bosman verdict in 1995 has freed the European player market while the product market was still nationally protected. In this paper, we try to derive the consequences of this deviant evolution in the European sports industry, concentrating on the competitive balance within and between national leagues and on the player salary levels, using a simplified ‘two country–four team’ model with quadratic revenue functions.     

Are Unbundled and Self‐supplied Telecommunications Switching Substitutes? An Empirical Study

The Telecommunications Act of 1996 requires incumbent monopoly phone companies to lease elements of their networks to rivals. An important policy question is whether these unbundled elements are substitutes for entry modes that are more facilities‐based. In this article, we estimate demand curves for unbundled elements with the goal of assessing cross‐price effects between two of the more popular entry modes that differ in the mix of unbundled and self‐supplied inputs. As expected, we find downward sloping demand curves for unbundled elements. We also find own‐price elasticities in the elastic region of demand. What we do not find is evidence of substitution; we are able to reject the hypothesis of effective substitution between the two entry modes.     

规范“改制”才能加快“改制”—对《关于规范国有企业改制工作的意见》的一点感受

企业改制的主要任务是将国家与国有企业之间的“所有”关系转变为“出资”关系,关键是理顺出资人与企业的关系和企业与职工的关系。     

居民个人住房贷款风险分析及对策

我国的个人住房贷款风险源于借款人、贷款人、开发商及国家政策等四方面,因此,个人住房贷款应从加强政府监管、有效防范市场风险、建立住房预售风险分担机制着手,有效降低住房贷款风险,促进个人住房贷款市场的健康发展。     

市场环境下我国电源结构调整研究

电源结构是影响电力资源配置的重要因素,其调整方向必须符合经济、社会发展的现状及一次能源资源的结构。本文从我国社会经济发展水平及一次能源资源的特点出发,对影响我国电源结构调整的因素进行了分析,提出了优化电源结构的政策建议。     

影响我国汽车消费的软环境因素分析

随着国民经济的快速发展,城市居民家庭购买力也大幅度提高。单纯从居民家庭收入水平来看,汽车早就应该进入中国居民家庭了,但现实生活中为什么汽车进入家庭的步伐却相对迟缓,这其中有多方面的原因,其中汽车工业政策、汽车消费的附加成本、汽车金融服务等软环境因素直接影响我国汽车的消费能力。     

When do stock analysts find bond rating changes informative?

Credit rating agencies (CRAs) have considerable privileged access to corporate management and are therefore a potentially important source of information to the equity market. We study how stock analysts incorporate bond ratings in their earnings forecasts. We develop an economic framework to explain why equity analysts might look to CRAs as an information source, especially after Regulation Fair Disclosure. Using this framework, we characterize the association between ratings changes and earnings forecast revisions surrounding these changes. We examine whether the extent to which equity analysts glean information from ratings changes is related to the extent and importance of information conveyed in the ratings change and analysts’ information uncertainty. We find that characteristics we examine are strongly related to stock analysts’ use of information in rating downgrades.     

中国房地产市场价格泡沫与空间传染效应

本文使用对数周期性幂律(Log Period Power Law, LPPL)模型对房地产市场价格泡沫进行测度,运用空间计量模型对我国房地产市场价格泡沫和空间传染效应进行研究。LPPL模型认为由价格泡沫产生并最终破裂的金融市场与地震系统具有很多相似之处,即金融资产的价格呈周期性变化规律,价格持续上涨到临界状态直至反转。本文采用2010年6月至2017年11月间我国100个城市的房地产市场数据对各城市房地产价格泡沫进行测度和物理/经济空间传染效应研究。研究发现,LPPL模型能够对我国100个城市房地产价格泡沫进行甄别且主要存在两种泡沫状态:正向泡沫(房价持续上升)和反转泡沫(房价整体下降却存在反转点)。各个城市(地区)房地产价格具有较强的空间传染性;存在正向泡沫区域的空间传染性相较反转泡沫区域更为明显,在考虑经济空间测度而不是物理空间测度的情况下,各城市间的空间传染性更强。与现有文献不同,我们发现反转泡沫区域的新房价格指数特别是二手房价格指数的上升对周边城市的房地产价格指数存在强烈的正向推高影响。最后,本文发现城市的房地产调控政策在一定程度上抑制了房价传统影响(比如信贷、新房、二手房价等)因素的推高影响,但各城市房地产价格之间的联动变化特征应该引起监管部门的注意。