Non-Europe: The magnitude and causes of market fragmentation in the EU

Non-Europe: The Magnitude and Causes of Market Fragmentation in the EU. — In 1985 the European Commission diagnosed its member states as suffering from excessive market fragmentation, later referred to as “Non-Europe.” The authors examine the empirical basis for the Commission’s diagnosis using a trade model derived from monopolistic competition. They then investigate the links between the initial size and subsequent evolution of border effects within the EU. The findings support the view that European consumers act as if imports from other members were subject to high nontariff barriers. However, there appears to be almost no relationship between market fragmentation and the barriers that were identified and removed by Europe’s Single Market Programme.     

资本结构与产品市场互动——基于行业竞争性均衡力量视角

基于行业竞争性均衡力量视角下的资本结构与产品市场互动理论,在行业框架内引入市场竞争均衡的思想来考察资本结构与产品市场互动之间的内在联系,从理论上回答了竞争性行业内的企业真实决策与财务决策如何在行业内被共同地决定,较好地解释了现实世界中同一行业内企业财务结构特征与非财务特征的多样性。文章对这一思想进行了系统的总结与归纳。     

中国企业从出口到OFDI的渐进国际化——基于不确定性的视角

国际市场的不确定性会促使企业遵守循序渐进的国际化进程。对此,文章通过构建二阶段模型,阐释了不确定性条件下企业如何由出口向OFDI动态转型。在此基础上,文章选取2000-2006年中国海关数据库、中国工业企业数据库和境外投资企业名录的匹配数据,采用倾向得分匹配法（PSM）检验出口对OFDI决策的影响,进而采用Cox回归分析不确定性条件下出口经验与OFDI决策的关系。结果发现,不确定性越强,出口经验对OFDI决策的作用就越重要,但是该作用会随着在同一市场连续出口时间的延长而依次递减;按所有权分类的实证结果进一步显示,私营企业和外资企业出口对OFDI的影响持续降低;集体企业在最初第二、三年的出口经验对OFDI决策影响最大,之后逐年降低,呈倒"U"型;国有企业的出口经验对OFDI的影响始终呈现不规律变化。     

European integration and corporate restructuring: the strategy of Unilever,c.1957–c.19901

European integration and corporate restructuring: the strategy of Unilever, c.1957‐c.1990. While much has been written about the politics of European integration, discussion about the role of business in this process has been largely confined to lobbying activities. This article focuses on the business reaction to European integration. It highlights the constraints facing one of Europe's largest firms in building a regional detergents business. These included divergences in market demand and political obstacles to rationalization, but more serious was a corporate culture based around local decision making and consensus. The study demonstrates that a full understanding of the European integration process must incorporate a firm‐level analysis of how Europe‐wide businesses were built after 1957.     

The welfare effects of a european anti-dumping duty and price-undertaking policy

In the framework of its anti-dumping policy, the European Union can use two instruments: an anti-dumping duty and a price-undertaking. The objective of both instruments is to eliminate the price difference, on the European market, between a European product and a similar foreign product which is dumped on the European market. The authors first briefly look at the institutional framework within which the European Union operates, and at the actual use made of the two instruments since 1980. The main purpose of the paper is to show that, from a welfare point of view, an anti-dumping duty is always better than a price-undertaking. This result is very robust: it holds for quasi-linear preferences, under both Bertrand and Cournot competition, and irrespective of the timing of the firms' decisions.     

Acquirer Internal Control Weaknesses in the Market for Corporate Control

This paper examines how disclosures regarding internal controls, required by sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes‐Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX), affect the market for corporate control. We hypothesize that acquirers with internal control weaknesses (ICWs) make suboptimal acquisition decisions based on poor‐quality information generated by their ineffective controls over financial reporting. We expect that such acquirers will be more likely to misestimate the value of their targets or the potential synergies from mergers, thereby overpaying for completed deals. Using a treatment sample of acquisitions made by acquirers that have disclosed ICWs and two matched control samples without ICW disclosures, we document that ICW acquirers experience a substantially more negative market response to acquisition announcements and have lower future performance than the two matched control samples without ICW disclosures. Overall, our results suggest that ineffective internal controls hinder decision making related to mergers and acquisitions (M&A).     

Finnish and Swedish business cycles in a global context

This paper evaluates the decisions made by the Finnish government to join EMU and the Swedish government not to join EMU in the early 1990s. Focusing on the characteristics of business cycles during the postwar period, we find that output fluctuations in Sweden and Finland are correlated to two measures of the international business cycle, a European and a non-European cycle. The Finnish cycle has become more synchronized to the European cycle but less synchronized to the non-EU cycle after 1999. For Sweden we find the opposite result. The decision by the Finnish government to join EMU on schedule is justified ex post but was not justified ex ante. Similarly, the decision by the Swedish government not to join EMU in 1999 seems to be justified ex post but was not justified ex ante. Our empirical evidence suggests that economic decisions based on historical data may not be optimal ex ante but they may be defensible ex post.     

Mandatory Disclosure,Generation of Decision‐Relevant Information,and Market Entry

We investigate the interaction of mandatory disclosure and the gathering of decision‐relevant information in a setting in which a competitor may enter the market. Gathering detailed information allows for an efficient allocation of resources, but eventually attracts competition by revealing beneficial information to competitors. In contrast, refraining from generating detailed information implies inefficient decisions, but eventually prevents competitors from entering the market. Our results show that an incentive not to generate internal information arises for two reasons: If the incumbent's cost advantage is sufficiently large, disclosing aggregated information can be an instrument to avoid competition by reducing the likelihood of market entry. If the incumbent's cost advantage is small, disclosing aggregated information attracts competition by increasing the likelihood of market entry. In this case, imprecise cost information serves as a commitment device to reduce the intensity of competition by forcing the competitor to take into account his efficiency disadvantage in making his production decision.     

Words and Numbers: Financialization and Accounting Standard Setting in the United Kingdom

How is it possible that British policymakers resisted market‐based measurement for decades while financial economic concepts of decision making and valuation still gained widespread acceptance as a justification for accounting standard setting? This study introduces the concept of “technologies of financialization” to develop the theorizing of the rise of finance in the domain of accounting. Based on a genealogical history of narrative reporting in the United Kingdom, it demonstrates how references to qualitative reporting techniques helped to address recurring crises of measurement from 1969 to 1993, and ultimately contributed to the practical acceptance of market‐based measurement in the UK standard‐setting context. The data are interpreted through a cultural economy framework that directs attention to the power of referring to financial reporting as a combination of words and numbers in sustaining its theoretical redefinition “from below”—that is, by relating it to the experience of practicing accountants rather than accounting theory. As a technology of financialization, narrative reporting made financial economic ideals of market‐based measurement, decision usefulness, and future orientation appear operable in a real‐life reporting context. Whenever measurement reached its practical limits, narratives were relied on to explain the impact of price‐level changes, frame economic decisions, and relate unobservable future cash flows to present‐day strategies and resources. The insight into how narrative reporting practices have been laced into the reasoning of capital markets for over 40 years is timely because it illustrates that narratives can also play a more encompassing role and drive the turn toward wider corporate accountability on social and environmental impacts while hard measurements in this area are still being figured out.     

The end of the Stability and Growth Pact?

Fiscal policy is the incomplete chapter in the macroeconomic arrangements agreed at Maastricht. The Stability and Growth Pact (SGP) was an attempt to patch it up, but it failed. We need to understand: why? When the Ecofin Council in November 2003 voted against proceeding with the Excessive Deficit Procedure regarding Germany and France, many observers concluded that the Pact was dead or at least “suspended”. No doubt the decision violated the spirit of the SGP. Yet, it was nothing else but the application of the rules: contrary to the original idea of automaticity of sanctions proposed by the German finance minister Theo Waigel in 1995, the Pact stipulated the need for a vote by the Council and therefore implied the possibility that the Commission might be overruled. The Commission requested Germany to reduce its structural deficit by 0.8% of the GDP, and France by 0.4%. This recommendation was blocked and thereby also the consequence of imposing sanctions if these countries would not comply. What appeared so shocking about the events in 2003 was the fact that the decision to not follow the Excessive Deficit Procedure was taken so early in the Pact’s life and as a consequence of bullying by the two largest member states and without genuine economic reasons. In other words, the procedures of the Pact have never been fully applied. Together with the serious policy divergences over the Iraq war and the failure of agreeing a European constitution, the SGP is the third major issue in less than one year that undermines the political credibility of European integration. I believe that this fact is not just to be blamed on incompetent or unwilling politicians; rather it is intrinsic to the issue of fiscal policy coordination in an incomplete federation. It is a constitutional issue.     

Ex Post Evaluation of Enforcement: A Principal-Agent Perspective

Summary  This paper discusses a number of methodological challenges that ex post evaluation of competition policy faces. We argue that imprecise measurement and simplified analysis not only lead to unreliable results, but also trigger behavioural responses by competition authorities. Because evaluation works as an incentive scheme, it has an immediate impact on the way agencies operate. Faced with simplistic assessment, authorities may be tempted to be overly interventionist, to spend too many resources and to ignore relevant information. Therefore, a careful design of methodologies is important to ensure that ex post control does not bring about the very ills it is supposed to cure. The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of DG Competition or the European Commission.     

欧洲创新记分牌指数变化及其对中国的启示

欧盟委员会为了衡量成员国的创新绩效,推出了欧洲创新记分牌年度评价报告,为了科学评估国家创新水平,欧盟委员会对该报告中的评价指标体系欧洲创新记分牌进行了不断完善和调整.通过分析欧洲创新记分牌主要年份指标体系的具体变化情况,总结出评价指数发展变化动向,结合2017—2020年中国创新指数表现情况,为提高中国创新水平提供一些启示.     

企业家才能与创新机会的动态匹配模型——对企业家创新决策的含义

企业家是如何做出创新决策的？基于对企业家创新活动本质的分析,通过考察企业家才能与创新机会的动态匹配,本文在微观层面构建一个创新决策模型。我们发现：1、市场的信息发现功能对创新激励至关重要;2、创新过程中观察到的“外生”信号是否“正面”是进一步创新的决定性因素;3、创新机会可被分享程度将会影响到市场对企业家的创新“奖励”;4,保留收益水平、知识产权保护、市场有效性等外部因素会影响企业家的创新热情。     

European steel policies in the 1980s: Hindering technological innovation and market structure change?

European Steel Policies in the 1980s: Hindering Technological Innovation and Market Structure Change? — This paper examines the effects of the European Commission’s Manifest Crisis Policy of production quotas on the growth of European minimills during the 1980s. In particular, the study seeks to determine whether the Commission-approved secondary market for the quota rights created sufficient flexibility to ensure that low-cost suppliers increased production during this period of steel industry rationalization. The empirical results indicate that the policies did significantly hinder minimill growth during the quota period but did not prevent later minimill expansion.     

Human Capital Externalities and Proximity: Evidence from Repeated Cross-Sectional Data

Summary  Does schooling generate social returns in excess of the private returns captured by the individual who makes the human capital investment? As a strategy to detect human capital externalities I use Dutch survey data to estimate the impact of the average human capital stock in a region on individual wages, considering regional human capital as a local public good. Indeed, the regional fraction of high-skilled workers or the region’s average educational attainment appears with a positive and statistically significant coefficient in an augmented Mincer specification. However, the impact on individual wages completely vanishes when the firm’s human capital stock is included as an additional control. This may suggest that human capital externalities predominate within firms, though alternative explanations, in particular selection of high-skilled workers in high-productive companies and imperfect substitutability across skill groups, cannot be ruled out. I would like to thank two referees, Nicole Bosch, Theo van de Klundert, Pierre Koning, Rob Luginbuhl, Mauro Mastrogiacomo, Gabriela Schütz, Wouter Vermeulen, Dinand Webbink and seminar participants at the Enterprise and Industry Directorate-General of the European Commission, the NAKE Research Day 2007, the 64th Congress of the International Institute of Public Finance, and the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis for helpful comments, and Joke Goes, Jelte Haagsma and Judith Hoeben for their help with the data. Views expressed are my own, and do not necessarily reflect official positions of the European Commission or the CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis.     

Endogenous,Intra‐household Decision‐making and its Impact on the Labor Supply of Couples in Rural India*

Using data for rural India, this paper analyzes households' labor supply decision‐making, taking into consideration non‐participation, endogenous intrahousehold bargaining and nutritional status. Analyses of unitary and collective models suggest that bargaining between household members forms the basis of households' decisions, and these decisions alter households' internal power balance. Analysis of households' internal bargaining process suggests that women's bargaining power increases when their wages are higher and they are better educated. The results indicate that it is crucial to account for the mechanics of decision‐making within households when studying the effects of changing labor market conditions or designing development policies to improve individual well‐being or to empower women.     

An analysis of ITC decisions in antidumping,countervailing duty and safeguard cases

An Analysis of ITC Decisions in Antidumping, Countervailing Duty and Safeguard Cases. — This paper investigates the economic factors that best explain the decisions of the International Trade Commission in administering the injury provisions of U.S. antidumping, countervailing duty, and safeguard laws during the 1980s. Utilizing the economic data collected by the Commission for each investigation, it attempts to ascertain through regression analysis how strictly the commissioners have been interpreting these laws in recent years in terms of the economic conditions required for finding that an industry has been injured and for establishing a casual relationship between imports and this injury.     

关于企业成本刚性的分析与思考

实现以市场导向为主的利率决定体制 ,是包括中国在内的发展中国家金融体制改革的目标。而目前发展中国家金融制度的一个显著特点是国家过度干涉利率的决定 ,因此对政府在利率决定中的作用进行清晰的界定和建立合理的政府退出机制是发展中国家实现利率市场化的关键。本文准备从     

Multinationals, Hedging, and Capital Structure under Exchange Rate Uncertainty

This paper examines the interplay of the financing and hedging decisions of a risk-averse multinational firm having a wholly-owned foreign subsidiary. Exchange rate risk management of the multinational firm is shown to have direct impacts on its international capital structure decision and on its currency of denomination decision. If a currency forward market exists, the multinational firm will devise its international capital structure so as to minimize the global weighted average cost of capital. Or else the multinational firm has to rely on a money market hedge through issuing more foreign currency denominated debt and less domestic currency denominated debt, thereby resulting in a higher global weighted average cost of capital. JEL Classification Numbers: D81, F23, G32