Robust political economy: The case of antitrust

The notion of robust political economy is applied to antitrust. It is argued that the universalizability of policy rules is crucial if both the knowledge problem and the incentive problem in antitrust are taken seriously. Policy recommendations of Williamson are compared with those of Hayek. It is further argued that the notion of universalizability is central not only with regard to antitrust but also with regard to a host of other policy areas. JEL Code B52, B53, D02, D80, K21, K40, L40. The author thanks his collaborators Lorenz Blume, Kim Eun Young, Janina Satzer and Michael Seebauer as well as Anne van Aaken for helpful comments and suggestions.     

Endogenous market structures and antitrust policy

I revisit the post-Chicago approach to antitrust issues examining markets whose structure is endogenous. The usual analysis of oligopolies with strategic interactions and an exogenous number of firms is extended to the case of endogenous entry, which determines the degree of market power. The role of predation is evaluated within a generalization of the contestability theory to strategic interactions. Endogenous entry requires a revision of our understanding of the role of incumbents in pricing, producing in the presence of network externalities, bundling products, price discriminating, and delegating to retailers through vertical restraints: when entry is endogenous, leaders adopt aggressive strategies typically without exclusionary purposes and without reducing welfare. Endogenous entry has also implications for the analysis of mergers, that take place only if they create enough cost efficiencies and do not harm consumers, beneficial concentration, technology transfers, and cartels. The spirit of the policy recommendations of the Chicago school is broadly supported by our analysis.     

新产品预告中的反垄断问题

在传统的营销学研究中,预告往往被当作一种营销手段,配合新产品的推出和市场推广。随着信息技术的飞速发展,新产品预告作为信号传递方式,逐渐成为企业遏制市场进入或鼓励合作的一种竞争策略。通过梳理博弈论框架下把新产品预告作为竞争策略的相关研究,着重介绍“雾件”竞争的福利效应及其对反垄断的意义与启示。     

Local loop unbundling and antitrust policy

This paper examines economic effects of local loop unbundling. We confirm the common belief that the incumbent can deter entry effectively by denying local loop unbundling. However, contrary to the widely held perception, the incumbent may also benefit from local loop unbundling if it is obliged to accommodate entry, because denying the entrant’s request for local loop unbundling may compel the entrant to build its own facilities and this is just to abandon the incumbent’s chance to reap rental revenues. Furthermore, the model demonstrates that local loop unbundling itself does not weaken the entrant’s incentive of building facilities.     

Private enforcement,corruption, and antitrust design

We examine how the rationale for enabling versus precluding private antitrust enforcement depends on whether antitrust enforcement is corruption-free or plagued by corruption. Corruption in courts affects the incentives to bring forth private antitrust lawsuits. This, in turn, along with corruption in antitrust agency enforcement, alters the incentives to commit antitrust violations. The social welfare effect of enabling private antitrust enforcement in the presence of corruption depends on whether corrupt officials in the ensuing bribery contests favor a particular firm and if so which one and to what extent. Under some circumstances, corruption actually increases the social desirability of private antitrust enforcement relative to the no-corruption scenario. Our analysis highlights that the effects of a given legal arrangement for antitrust enforcement critically depend on the corruption environment and, thus, that the appropriate design of antitrust institutions is context-specific.     

Total repeal of antitrust legislation: A critique of Bork,Brozen, and Posner

Conclusion We have discussed the works of three eminent, conservative, free market oriented economists. Certainly, they constitute a reasonable sample of this universe of discourse. We have found that however profoundly they defend market institutions in other contexts, they fail to do so in the case of antitrust. Why this lacunae should exist on the part of people otherwise concerned with economic freedom is for another day's analysis. But that this is so is the only conclusion that may be fairly drawn from the discussion above.Walter Block is associate professor of economics at the College of the Holy Cross and executive editor of theReview of Austrian Economics. The author wishes to thank two anonymous referees for helpful suggestions, many of which are incorporated here into this paper. The usual caveat of course applies. I have liberally footnoted this paper with the writings of Murray N. Rothbard on the topic of monopoly and antitrust, but these few citations are far from adequate to express the degree to which I rely on his pathbreaking work in this field.     

Development and validation of a new instrument to evaluate the ease of use of patient-controlled analgesic modalities for postoperative patients

Abstract

Objective: To describe the development and psychometric evaluation of a questionnaire assessing the ease of use that patients associate with patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) modalities.

Methods: Qualitative interviews were conducted with patients who had experience with intravenous (IV) PCA for postoperative pain management to generate items relevant to the ease of using PCA modalities. The content validity of the resulting questionnaire was examined through follow-up patient interviews, and an expert panel reviewed the questionnaire. Cognitive debriefing interviews were conducted with patients to determine the clarity and content of the instructions, items, and response scales, and the ease of completing the instrument. Psychometric evaluation was performed with patients who had undergone surgery and received IV PCA for postoperative pain management. Item and scale quality and the internal consistency reliability of the questionnaire were assessed. Construct validity was evaluated by examining the relationship between subscales of the questionnaire with patient-reported outcome measures. Known-groups validity was determined by assessing the instrument's ability to differentiate between patients with versus without an IV PCA problem. A potential limitation of this study was the exclusive sampling of patients who had experience with IV PCA.

Results: The Patient Ease-of-Care (EOC) Questionnaire included 23 items in the following subscales: Confidence with Device, Comfort with Device, Movement, Dosing Confidence, Pain Control, Knowledge/Understanding, and Satisfaction. Coefficient alpha reliability estimates were ≥0.66 for Overall EOC (includes all subscales except Satisfaction) and all EOC subscales. Construct validity was supported by the moderate relationship between the Pain Control subscale and measures of pain severity and pain interference; additional evidence of construct validity was provided by correlations of the Confidence with Device subscale, the Satisfaction subscale, and Overall EOC with measures of pain severity, pain interference, and satisfaction. Significant mean score differences were reported between participants with and without IV PCA problems for Overall EOC and for the Comfort with Device, Confidence with Device, Movement, Pain Control, and Satisfaction subscales indicating known-groups validity.

Conclusions: Results provide evidence for the reliability and validity of the Patient EOC Questionnaire as a measure of the ease of use that patients associate with PCA systems and may be useful for evaluating emerging PCA modalities.     

Further development and sustainable utilization mode of grassland tourism resources： a ease study of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China

Tourism resources are important foundation for the development of tourism industry.Grassland is not only a kind of important resource but also a great attraction to visitors.Therefore,the integrated development and sustainable utilization of grassland tourism resources are of great significance.This paper,based on the analysis of literatures and the current problems existing in grassland tourism,summarizes the speciality of grassland tourism development,deals nation as example and carries out empirical research.Based on the status quo of grassland tourism resources in Inner Mongolia,this study analyzes the characteristics of grassland tourism resources,the necessity and feasibility of integrated development,then proposes the following suggestions： idea for development,mode of development,regional cooperation,tourism products development,especially the three modes of development based on the resources conditions - the mode of relying on market,the mode of combination aggregation and the mode of relying on quality.