Markets for Electricity in Europe

Competition in the electricity industry requires properly functioningwholesale markets. This paper discusses the better-establishedelectricity markets of Europe, in the Nordic countries, Englandand Wales, and Spain. The different market designs can all produceefficient outcomes, if not hindered by market power. Long-termcontracts provide some defence against market power, and giveprice stability to promote investment. Competition in electricityretailing may discourage retailers from signing long-term contractsin future.     

Auction Markets for Evaluations

When the value of a product or service is uncertain, outcomes can be inefficient. A market for evaluations can theoretically increase efficiency by voluntarily eliciting an evaluation that would otherwise not be provided. This paper uses a controlled laboratory experiment to test the performance of four market mechanisms to provide product evaluations. The mechanisms considered are derived from the oft studied uniform price sealed bid, discriminatory price sealed bid, English clock auction, and Dutch clock auction. Our results indicate for this nonrivalrous product that (i) each of these institutions improves social welfare and (ii) the performances of the four mechanisms are equivalent. This second point is particularly noteworthy given that differing behavior is routinely observed in traditional private value auctions.     

The Role of Markets,Technology, and Policy in Generating Palm-Oil Demand in Indonesia

Indonesia produces more palm oil and consumes more palm oil per capita than any country in the world. This article examines the processes through which Indonesia has promoted palm-oil consumption and some of the consequences of that promotion. Partial equilibrium modelling shows that Indonesia's remarkable increase in palm-oil consumption since 1985 is not largely attributable to population and income growth. Instead, much of this consumption growth has resulted from substitution away from coconut oil, facilitated by government policies on technology, pricing, distribution, and trade. The switch from coconut oil to palm oil in Indonesia was associated with increased land conversions to agriculture and diminished smallholder competitiveness. Despite lower rates of cooking-oil substitution in the future, simulations suggest that Indonesia's total palm-oil consumption in 2035 will be at least double that of 2010.     

Labour Markets in the ASEAN-4 and the NIEs

This paper updates the survey of labour markets in East Asia in APEL 4(2), September 1990. After an introductory section on major economic changes in the region, it describes trends in the labour supply, employment, wages and unemployment. The following sections give an account of developing labour market institutions, industrial relations and government regulation. The last section deals briefly with the impact of the Asian financial crisis.     

Tax Deductions for Losses and Equilibrium in Competitive Insurance Markets

This paper examines how tax deductions related to uninsured personal losses may be Pareto-improving if there are inefficiencies in insurance markets in the context of adverse selection by including individuals with different risk types. In the absence of moral hazard, we provide a positive view of loss deduction policies by showing that they more easily reach a separating equilibrium than does the free market in the Rothschild and Stiglitz equilibrium concept.     

Boundaries of the Tournament Pricing Effect in Asset Markets: Evidence from Experimental Markets

Tournament compensation of asset traders has been shown to promote deconvergence from intrinsic value pricing in an experimental asset market where all traders are so compensated (James and Isaac 2000). This paper explores the extent of this effect as experimental design parameters—proportion of traders facing tournament compensation, details of the tournament contract, and time horizon of the asset being traded—are varied. We find that the original results are replicated using the original parameters, that a tournament contract modified to provide a penalty for underperformance does not necessarily eliminate the effect, and that reducing the proportion of traders facing tournament compensation to half the market largely eliminates the effect.     

我国天然胶期货价格与现货价格关系的实证研究

期货价格与现货价格具有趋合性规律.近年来,我国天然胶期货市场上价格操纵行为时而发生,期货价格屡屡背离现货价格.本文通过对当前我国天然胶期货价格和现货价格之间协整关系的实证分析,验证了二者之间尚不真正具备趋合性规律,进而针对存在的不足,提出相应对策建议.     

中国商品期货市场有效性的方差比率检验

随机游动模型的方差比率检验方法可以被用于检验中国商品期货市场的有效性程度。对1999-2004年间六个商品期货品种的收盘价和结算价的分阶段（1999-2001和2002-2004）检验结果表明：铜期货市场在整个样本期间都基本上达到了弱式有效,而铝、天胶、大豆／豆一、豆粕等品种在2002-2004年间的有效性却表现出一定程度的下降。但是,在2002-2004年间,小麦期货市场的有效性得到了一定程度的提高。这些实证结果表明监管当局应该汲取以往期货市场大幅震荡的教训,有针对性地继续努力改进并提高期货市场的有效性水平。     

国家政策为轿车消费市场打开绿灯

随着人们生活水平的不断提高,汽车已跃居为中国仅次于住房的第二大消费品。有调查显示,在中国的28个大型城市中,有30.6％的无车消费者有驾驶执照。城镇家庭中大约20％(2600万户)有购车的欲望,这相当于全球汽车厂家一年的总产量。如此高的数字表明中国汽车消费市场的巨大潜能,这一潜在消费群体一旦被激活,中国车市将出现一个崭新的局面。调查结果还得出这样的结论:随着居民收入的提高和加入WTO后汽车预期价格下降等多种原因的影响,2005年至2010年,中国将出现私人购车高峰。     

中国证券市场监管困境的原因分析

中国证券市场上诸多混乱现象的出现使证券市场的健康发展备受困扰,证券市场监管陷入困境之中.证券市场监管陷入这些困境的直接原因在于政府监管承载过重,范围过宽,导致力不从心;法律监管执法不力,推脱责任,导致威慑失效;自律监管力量微薄,碌碌无为,形同虚设;社会监管不遗余力,但是茫然无助,效果有限.证券市场监管陷入困境的最根本原因是证券市场的制度性扭曲.     

Volatility and Volume in Chinese Stock Markets

The fact that stock market returns in Europe and the USA are characterised by conditional heteroscedasticity is by now well documented in a large literature. We address the question of whether the same is true of the four Chinese stock markets (Shanghai and Shenzhen A and B) over the period from 25 November 1994 to 27 April 2001. Using daily index data, we make two departures from the standard GARCH(1,1) model. First, we use exponential GARCH (EGARCH) to allow for asymmetry in the volatility, which may be present as a result of leverage effects. Second, we respond to evidence of two-way causality between volume and return (and return volatility) by introducing a simultaneous equation model of the relationship. The results of estimating the model indicate that asymmetry does not seem to be present to a significant degree, possibly as a result of lack of information or concern among Chinese investors. We find that volume appears to play a significant part in determining index volatility, which may reflect information arrival effects or may alternatively result from the direct impact of trading on volatility. At the same time, we also find that both the level of returns and their conditional variance have an impact on trade volume, probably because positive (negative) returns tend to attract (deter) investors into the markets.     

Fluctuations in Unemployment and Industry Labor Markets

Throughout the 1990s, and particularly in the mid- to late-1990s, the Japanese employment situation went from bad to worse. We investigate the causes of rising unemployment in Japan, using data on individual workers from the “Special Survey of the Labor Force” between 1988 and 1999. This research focuses on the effect of labor market segmentation by industry on labor flows. Our findings reveal that unemployment in the construction industry and, more recently, in the service industry has contributed greatly to the national unemployment rate. We also find that most successful job transfers occur within the same industry, even though workers may experience some periods of unemployment. Finally, our results show that labor market conditions in each industry affect the probability that a worker will fall into unemployment as well as the probability that an unemployed worker will find new employment. These findings suggest that the Japanese labor market is segmented by industry and this segmentation contributed to the worsening unemployment in Japan. J. Japan. Int. Econ., December 2001, 15(4), pp. 437–464. Department of Economics, Dokkyo University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Soka-shi, Saitama 340-0042, Japan; Graduate School of Economics, Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya, 464-8601, Japan. © 2001 Elsevier Science (USA).Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: J63, J64.