Technological choices and regulation: the case of the Canadian manufacturing sectors

Abstract The economic environment in which Canadian manufacturing firms operate has changed substantially over the last 40 years. Technological changes, new regulations, deregulation, and exogenous economic shocks all have been important aspects of this economic environment. In this article, we show how to include such changes in the economic environment faced by the firms in a behavioural model that includes the investment decision of the firm under uncertainty. Assumptions regarding the expectation formation process and technology are kept minimal. We estimate the effects of innovations such as the free trade agreement, the foreign investment review agency, and the federal environmental policy on the economic decisions of fifteen Canadian manufacturing sectors. JEL Classification: D24
Choix de technologies et réglementation: le cas des secteurs manufacturiers canadiens Au cours des 40 dernières années, l'environnement économique des firmes manufacturières canadiennes s'est grandement transformé. Que ce soit à cause du changement technologique, de la réglementation, de vagues de déréglementation ou de chocs économiques exogènes, les firmes ont dû s'adapter en modifiant leur technologie. Dans cet article, nous montrons comment prendre en compte les changements de l'environnement économique des firmes dans le cadre d'un modèle décisionnel de la firme en incertitude avec investissement. Les hypothèses concernant la technologie et les anticipations sont aussi générales que possible. Nous estimons l'effet qu'ont eu l'accord de libre échange, l'agence de tamisage des investissements étrangers et la politique environnementale fédérale sur les choix de technologies des firmes de quinze secteurs manufacturiers canadiens.     

A NOTE ON ARBITRAGE AND CLOSED CONVEX CONES

We give an example of a subspace K of     such that     , where     denotes the closure with respect to convergence in probablity. On the other hand, the cone   C ≔ K − L ^∞₊  is dense in   L ^∞  with respect to the weak-star topology  σ( L ^∞, L ¹)  . This example answers a question raised by I. Evstigneev. The topic is motivated by the relation of the notion of no arbitrage and the existence of martingale measures in Mathematical Finance.     

The Asset Management Industry in Asia: Dynamics of Growth,Structure, and Performance

We examine the industrial organization and institutional development of the asset management industry in Asian developing economies—specifically in China, Indonesia, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, and Thailand. We focus on the size and growth of the buy‐side of the respective financial markets, asset allocation, the regulatory environment, and the state of internationalization of the fund management industry in its key components—mutual funds, pension funds, and asset management for high net worth individuals. We link the evolution of professional asset management in these environments to the development of the respective capital markets and to the evolution of corporate governance. We find that the fund management industry occupies a very small niche in domestic financial systems that are dominated by banks. At the same time, we find that its growth has been very rapid in the early 2000s and we suggest that this is likely to persist as the demand for professional management of financial wealth in the region develops and as the pension fund sectors of the respective economies are liberalized to allow larger portions of assets to be invested in collective investment schemes.     

Building Small City and Town Sams and CGE Models

In this paper we attempt to describe both the data sources and organizational methods that allow for effective and easily created SAMs and regional computable general equilibrium (CGE) models. Small cities of around 100,000 people will face very different constraints than a town of 2000 people. Unfortunately, most CGE models typically describe relatively large geographical areas and are therefore not able to capture the uniqueness of individual cities within the region. An illustrative example using these methods demonstrates that the economic impacts vary substantially over different municipalities to the same economic shock.     

Habilitation von Ralf Hohlfeld

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

A Critique of the Legal and Philosophical Case for Rent Control

Rent control is an economic abomination. It diverts investments away from residential rent units, it leads to their deterioration, it is responsible for urban decay such as in the South Bronx, it does not help poor tenants, it is a horrendous means of income redistribution. Yet this economic regulation is beloved of intellectuals (hot beds of pro rent control sentiment are Berkeley, Ann Arbor and Cambridge) particularly in the legal and philosophical communities. The present article is dedicated to an exploration and rejection of the arguments in behalf of rent control which emanate from this source.     

Asymmetric performance: the market share impact of scale and link alliances in the global auto industry

This study investigates how participating in strategic alliances with rivals affects the relative competitive positions of the partner firms. The paper builds on studies that show significant differences in the outcomes of scale and link alliances. The study argues that the more asymmetric outcomes of link alliances translate into greater changes in the relative market shares of the partner firms, due to unbalanced opportunities for inter‐partner learning and learning by doing. We find support for this argument by examining 135 alliances among competing firms in the global automobile industry, from 1966 to 1995. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.