Structure and Profitability in Banking Markets

We use the structure-performance model and regression analysis to investigate a number of analytical issues that often arise in evaluating competition in connection with bank mergers and that are generally relevant to mergers in other industries. Perhaps our most consistent and strongest finding is that the local market HHI is positively and significantly related to profitability. We also find that the number of organizations and the level of recent deposit growth may provide some additional information on the level of competition. Finally, several variables including market size, the number of large banking firms, deposits per office, and resident migration rates exhibit similar relationships to profitability in the bivariate analysis, suggesting that there may be some characteristic associated with market size, density, or attractiveness that is important for competition.     

系统市场中企业策略性排他行为分析

本文将系统竞争和组件竞争结合起来，分析系统市场中的企业策略性行为及其对市场竞争和创新的影响。在系统市场上．开放的系统竞争结构是较优的，但是企业并不一定会选择与社会福利目标相一致的组织形式．而是更多地基于策略性需要来进行选择。在系统市场中．创新主导企业有激励通过策略性地选择许可比例来操纵市场竞争。在邻近市场结构中．在位创新垄断企业有激励通过排他性行为将关键技术市场的垄断势力延伸到邻近竞争市场．这些市场封锁行为通常会严重地伤害市场竞争，并阻碍技术创新。     

Store Brands: Who Buys Them and What Happens to Retail Prices When They Are Introduced?

Review of Industrial Organization - In this paper we study store brand demand behavior by examining a panel ofhousehold level and store-level data in five stores located in a competing marketarea....     

Domestic Market Structure and Performance in Global Markets: Theory and Empirical Evidence from U.S. Food Manufacturing Industries

This paper formally articulates Porter's hypothesis that the degree of competition in domestic markets is positively linked to performance in international markets. Hypotheses are tested using measures of the trade performance of U.S. food manufacturing industries as proxies for international competitiveness. Empirical results are generally consistent with Porter's hypothesis; net export share is negatively related to industry concentration. The competitiveness of agricultural inputs, R & D intensity, and trade barriers of other countries were also found to be important determinants of the performance of these industries in global markets.     

国内成品油市场竞争的新格局

随着我国成品油市场的开放，国内成品油市场已经改变了原有格局。分析了当前成品油市场上各竞争主体，阐释了我国的成品油市场开始呈现的以中国石化、中国石油两大集团为主导，其他国有石油公司、民营企业、国际石油公司共同参与竞争的新格局。     

欧盟电力市场化改革最新进展及启示

欧盟推进电力市场化改革的主要目标是要建立欧洲统一电力市场。根据欧盟电力市场化改革第2号指令的要求,2007年7月开始全部用户市场开放,在2004年7月和2007年7月分别实现输电运行机构和配电运行机构从竞争性业务中分离出来。为进一步加强跨国电力交易,欧盟加快了泛欧洲输电网建设进程,推进统一的输电交易和阻塞管理机制,推动各国深化电力改革和各国电力市场之间的融合。而欧盟电力市场化改革及推进面临挑战。对中国而言,建立统一开放的电力市场体系是电力市场化改革方向,但业务分拆和电力市场机制建设必须协调推进。     

美国的电力监管政策

在电力市场化改革进程中,美国的电力工业政策是引入竞争而不是放松管制,依靠竞争和监管来确保电力批发市场的公平和合理的价格。充裕的能源基础设施能够提供稳定的电力供给并且支持竞争性的电力市场。竞争与有效监管并行,能够为国家和社会公众带来最大的利益。美国联邦能源监管委员会通过利用国会赋予的更为广泛的监管手段确保电力批发市场运转良好。     

Power in the market for Medi-Cal services

The California Medicaid Reform Act of 1982 resulted in a shift in power from the supply to the demand side of the Medi-Cal market. We find some evidence that strategic behavior by hospitals in the subsequent period may have countered the erosion of supplier market power. This study conducts an empirical assessment of market power in markets for Medi-Cal services, in the year reforms were first implemented (1983) and six years later. Multihospital chain presence is found to have a positive and statistically significant impact on market power, and to vary by chain ownership type.     

The Treatment of Market Power in Korea

Competitive forces have been relatively weak in Korea. Control of the chaebols' diversified expansion and conglomerate power has been a primary object of government policies. Competition law and policy has been expanded to include direct controls on chaebols, but it has been rather ineffective in resolving chaebol-related problems mainly because of insufficient attention having been paid to the problems of market power. Attempts to rein in chaebols by direct controls, without enhancing competitive forces, will be in vain, insofar as chaebol problems are really symptoms of their entrenched market potions in a non-competitive environment.     

电力市场的合理补偿原则与核心竞争模式

在四个方面阐述了电力市场的合理补偿原则与核心竞争模式:一是电力市场中的经济补偿与核心竞争模式关系;二是不考虑网络安全限制时的竞争模式;三是考虑网络安全因素时的补偿及竞争模式;四是考虑电力市场发电资源优化配置时的补偿及竞争模式,并作出了三点结论。     

The degree of competition in the advertising industry

After a merger wave began among advertising agencies in the late 1960's, the Federal Trade Commission investigated the anticompetitive effects of the mergers and concluded that the industry would remain competitive. In this paper, we employ a method suggested by Bresnahan to investigate the issue of competition in the advertising industry. The method uses industry-level data over the period 1972–87 to consider the determinants of supply and demand for advertising messages and to calculate the degree of market power on the supply side of the market. Statistical results support the hypothesis that the industry was competitive over this period.We thank Robert Coen of McCann-Erickson, Inc., for providing data on advertising costs and expenditures and W. Bradford Todd of the Richards Group for information about the industry. Lacy Glenn Thomas directed us to McCann-Erickson. We also thank James C. Murdoch, two anonymous referees, and the Editor, William G. Shepherd. Pornpong Sumanun provided research assistance. The usual disclaimer applies.     

Market Power in China: Manifestations, Effects and Legislation

This paper presents a picture of market power in China – its current situation, manifestations, causes, damaging effects and related economic laws and regulations. China is in a transition from a planned economy to a socialist market economy. Market power in China is reflected largely in administrative monopolies inherited from the old system, as well as in economic monopolies created by the new system. Administrative monopolies are worse than economic monopolies in terms of the distortion of transaction behavior and the preclusion of market competition. They have become a pressing issue facing China in its economic and social development. China has been developing a legislative framework on market competition, but this framework currently appears weak and powerless in the face of the administrative monopolies. However, the introduction of an anti-monopoly law will undoubtedly be helpful in enhancing the market competition mechanism.     

Integration Theory and European Labour Markets

Standard integration theory assumes that the law of the price holds within individual countries which can thus be treated as homogeneous units. Integration of two or more countries then amounts to removing the barriers to free exchange between them. Recently this conventional approach has been increasingly called into question. In the first place, as economic interpenetration grows, it becomes more important to recognize that national systems display many internal disparities and heterogeneities. Moreover, as recent advances in economic theory emphasize, transaction costs and lack of information prevent market agents from taking advantage of all profitable exchanges. As a result, most market situations cannot be seen as self-clearing or capable of integrating spontaneously. Thus, institutional interventions and other co-ordination mechanisms are required to promote economic adaptability. Viewed from this standpoint, the Social Charter and related initiatives can be seen as promoting orderly integration of the Community's labour market.     

Market Power in Chinese Taipei: Laws, Policies and Treatments

The experience of Chinese Taipei shows that opening up a previously protected market to new entrants can be a more effective and reliable way to enhance competition than regulating the behavior of dominant or monopolistic firms. Moreover, when opening up the market, the liberalizing measures adopted by government should be market-structure-neutral. That is, it should not try to dictate the direction and results of market competition. A more pressure-resistant mechanism should be designed to deal with market power, taking the form of a regime that is cross-sector, independent and collective in its decision-making, such as has been the case with Chinese Taipei's Fair Trade Commission.     

List Prices,Sale Prices and Marketing Time: An Application to U.S. Housing Markets

Many goods are marketed after first stating a list price, with the expectation that the eventual sales price will differ. In this article, we first present a simple model of search behavior that includes the seller setting a list price. Holding constant the mean of the buyers’ distribution of potential offers for a good, we assume that the greater the list price, the slower the arrival rate of offers but the greater is the maximal offer. This trade‐off determines the optimal list price, which is set simultaneously with the seller's reservation price. Comparative statics are derived through a set of numerical sensitivity tests, where we show that the greater the variance of the distribution of buyers’ potential offers, the greater is the ratio of the list price to expected sales price. Thus, sellers of atypical goods will tend to set a relatively high list price compared with standard goods. We test this hypothesis using data from the Columbus, Ohio, housing market and find substantial support. We also find empirical support for another hypothesis of the model: atypical dwellings take longer to sell.     

Barriers to Mobility in Europe's Civil Aviation Markets: Theory and New Evidence

A questionnaire-based survey is applied to investigate the perception of mobilitybarriers by European airline managers. Whilst the liberalisation of Europe's airline markets removed regulatory mobility barriers, we find that mobility impediments still appear to exist. Potential entrants moreover, perceive some mobility barriers as significantly more effective than others. The perceived effectiveness of a particular mobility barrier varies considerably among airline managers. We also provide an overview of previous studies on the contestability hypothesis and the effectiveness of endogenous (strategic) mobility barriers. Our results support earlier findings for the U.S. to the effect that barriers to mobility are perceived to exist and matter. Whilst our results are clearly subjective, as they are based on the perceptions of managers, we believe such perceptions matter as they inform managerial actions. In this sensewe believe our results are of value.     

电力行业市场主体构造的理论基础分析

摘要：基于贝尔理论和有效竞争理论,分析了在传统电力行业发输配售一体化的垄断经营主体基础上,通过电力市场化改革构造适应竞争需要的电力市场主体的理论基础。在电力市场化改革中,适用贝尔理论,核心问题是要确立传统自然垄断经营主体实行竞争性环节和垄断性相分离的原则,并构造电力行业市场主体;适用有效竞争理论,其核心问题是要解决电力行业市场主体的数量和规模问题。就有效竞争标准在电力行业市场主体构造中的适用性进行了分析,认为在我国,未来电力市场主体应当是“发电侧和售电侧”主体多元化,输配电环节实行政府监管下的单一主体垄断经营。     

The relative price discipline of domestic versus foreign entry

In this paper we combine data on industry entry, imports, and producer price indexes for 46 4-digit SIC industries over the 1972 to 1987 period to determine the impact of entry on industry pricing. Domestic entry's restraining influence is weak and occurs only at high levels of concentration while import changes exhibit a procompetitive influence for lower levels of concentration that include nearly all industries in the sample. In addition, the threat of foreign entry plays a role in disciplining domestic pricing; the impact of nontariff barriers on price changes seems to increase with concentration levels.Professors of Economics, The American University and Bryant College, respectively. This paper is a revision of one presented at the 1992 ASSA meetings in New Orleans. We are grateful to the discussants Cindy Alexander and H. E. Frech for their comments, and we also thank Don Alexander, Roger Sherman, and two anonymous referees for their comments on earlier drafts. We alone are responsible for any remaining errors.     

国际工程设计与承包市场的相关性分析

依据1995～2004年美国《ENR》杂志公布的数据，运用SPSS软件从国家、地区以及全球的角度，对国际工程设计营业额与工程承包营业额的相关性进行了定量分析，并对分析的结果作了相应的解释。中还结合我国(除港澳台外)国际工程设计和承包市场相关性的特点，提出了发展我国国际工程设计与承包业的建议。