Price ceilings and firm-specific quantity restrictions in posted-offer markets

The effect of price ceilings and quantity controls in experimental posted-offer markets on market efficiency and total output is compared. Quantity controls adversely affect market performance relative to price ceilings. In the quota experiments contract and total surplus realization is lower than under equivalent price controls. Welfare outcomes, in terms of market efficiency, for price ceilings and quantity controls in a market setting are not the same, at least in the short run. Different welfare outcomes from equivalent controls are attributed to the manner in which the price and quantity search space is ‘censored’ by the price and quantity controls.     

Supply and demand factors of Cleaner technologies: Some empirical evidence

This article identifies and analyzes factors that affect the willingness of firms and consumers to develop and adopt cleaner technologies. Cleaner technologies is used as a general term for pollution abatement technologies, re-use systems, and environmentally sound consumer products and materials. The article also contains the findings of three case studies on cleaner technologies (CFC substitutes, low-solvent paints and coatings, and membrane technology), in which the importance of the identified factors is investigated. From the case studies some general conclusions are drawn about these factors, and the way in which policy instruments can be used to stimulate innovation in and diffusion of cleaner technologies. No single policy instrument is considered to be optimal. Instead a policy mix is needed, involving a much wider use of economic instruments.This paper is based on a research project for the Ministries of Economic Affairs and the Environment in the Netherlands, and is a revision of an earlier paper Policy Instruments to Stimulate Cleaner Technologies, which was prepared for the EAERE conference in Stockholm, June 11–14th, 1991. The authors thank the referee for helpful comments.     

Concurrent trading in two experimental markets with demand interdependence

Summary. We report results from fifteen computerized double auctions with concurrent trading of two commodities. In contrast to prior experimental markets, buyers' demands are induced via CES earnings functions defined over the two traded goods, with a fiat money expenditure constraint. Sellers receive independent marginal cost arrays for each commodity. Parameters for buyers' earnings functions and sellers' costs are set to yield a stable, competitive equilibrium. In spite of the complexity introduced by the demand interdependence, the competitive model is a good predictor of market outcomes, although prices tend to be above (below) the competitive prediction in the low-price (high-price) market.     

Strategic technology choice in regulated markets with demand uncertainty

This paper presents a simple model of a non-competitive market with demand uncertainty in which firms can choose their technology of production. Technology is characterised by two parameters: capacity and flexibility. The first has a strong commitment value while flexibility is needed to face uncertainty. Lack of competition requires active regulation to ensure that the price is not set at excessive level. When choosing their technology, firms take into account not only the effects of this choice on the opponent(s) but also the effect on the regulated price. In this framework, and because of regulation, firms have an incentive to strategically manipulate their cost (cost padding). This causes monopoly regulation aiming at improving allocative efficiency to be ineffective. In fact, by “tying its hand” to a low level of capacity, the monopolistic firm is able to get round the constraint imposed by the regulator. Increasing the number of firms in the market may restore regulation effectiveness. The reason is that if demand is sufficiently volatile, then firms strategically choose flexible techniques and this effect dominates over the incentive to manipulate costs in order to escape regulation. In this case, regulation is effective precisely because cost padding is hampered by firms’ non-cooperative behaviour.

Factors affecting the demand for insurance in China

China, the largest developing country in the world, has achieved rapid development of insurance market since the reform and opening up, and the demand for insurance has significantly increased in recent years. Using the provincial data between 2000 and 2012, this article attempts to examine the factors that affect the demand for overall insurance, life insurance and nonlife insurance in China. Empirical results indicate that level of income, development of insurance market and level of marketization are the common factors; level of education, development of social security pension, children dependency ratio and elderly dependency ratio mainly affect the demand for life insurance; and inflation mainly affects the demand for nonlife insurance. Furthermore, we particularly investigate the regional differences in the effects of affecting factors between Eastern China, Central China and Western China.     

Incentive effects of paying demand response in wholesale electricity markets

Recently issued U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regulations require comparable treatment of demand reduction and generation in the wholesale electric market so that they are compensated at the same market clearing price. The new regulations measure demand reduction as a reduction from a “customer baseline,” a historically based estimate of the expected consumption. In this paper, we study the incentive effects on the efficiency of the demand response regulation using a static equilibrium model and a dynamic extension of the model. Our analysis provides three main results. Firstly, our analysis shows that the demand reduction payment will induce consumers to (1) inflate the customer baseline by increasing consumption above the already excessive level during normal peak periods and (2) exaggerate demand reduction by decreasing consumption beyond the efficient level during a demand response event. This result persists when applied to alternative baseline designs in a dynamic model. Secondly, we study alternative policy remedies to restore the efficiency of demand response regulation and introduce a new approach to define the customer baseline as a fixed proportion of an aggregate baseline. In particular, the aggregate baseline approach can significantly weaken or eliminate the incentive to inflate the baseline. Finally, we illustrate that if the baseline inflation problem is solved and demand and supply functions are linear, the current policy can produce a net social welfare gain. However, the welfare improvement requires that demand reduction be paid only when the wholesale price is at least twice the fixed retail rate. This argues that the policy should include a sufficiently high threshold price below which demand response is not dispatched.     

Shaping technologies and shaping markets: Creating demand for biotechnology

Technological innovation is the 'commercialization' of new products and processes by firms. When based on new technologies, product innovation by firms involves the creation of new demand as well as the creative technical development of the product itself. This article discuss innovation in this light, bringing together literature on the social shaping of technologies and on the economics of innovation. As an example of the simulataneous shaping of products and new institutions to form a new 'market space', the article explores the development and marketing of one kind of biotechnology in the 1980s, specifically the exploitation of monoclonal antobody technology for the manufacture of new health care diagnostics.     

Economic and demographic factors in Australian alcohol demand

In the last two decades, total (pure) alcohol consumption in Australia has declined by about 31% and currently it is at the same level as it was in the 1950s. Australians consumed about 10 litres of pure alcohol per person in 1982 and now the level has declined to about 7 litres of pure alcohol per person. During the last four decades, per capita beer consumption has reached a peak of 140 litres in 1975 and has fallen to a low 93 litres in 1999; wine consumption has increased four-fold while spirits consumption has stayed around the same level. This paper, using the Australian consumption data for beer, wine and spirits for the period 1956–1999, aims to explain the change in consumption patterns of beer, wine and spirits by considering the effects due to changes in economic and demographic factors. The results show that while income and prices significantly influence the consumption patterns of alcohol, the increasing Australian elderly population also plays an important role.     

Disaggregation of excess demand and comparative statics with incomplete markets and nominal assets

Summary. We prove that locally, Walras' law and homogeneity characterize the structure of market excess demand functions when financial markets are incomplete and assets' returns are nominal. The method of proof is substantially different from all existing arguments as the properties of individual demand are also different. We show that this result has important implications and is part of a more general result that excess demand is an essentially arbitrary function not just of prices, but also of the exogenous parameters of the economy as asset returns, preferences, and endowments. Thus locally the equilibrium manifold, relating equilibrium prices to these parameters has also no structure. Received: September 17, 1996; revised version: November 7, 1997     

Limited asset markets participation, monetary policy and (inverted) aggregate demand logic

This paper incorporates limited asset markets participation in dynamic general equilibrium and develops a simple analytical framework for monetary policy analysis. Aggregate dynamics and stability properties of an otherwise standard business cycle model depend nonlinearly on the degree of asset market participation. While ‘moderate’ participation rates strengthen the role of monetary policy, low enough participation causes an inversion of results dictated by conventional wisdom. The slope of the ‘IS’ curve changes sign, the ‘Taylor principle’ is inverted, optimal welfare-maximizing discretionary monetary policy requires a passive policy rule and the effects and propagation of shocks are changed. However, a targeting rule implementing optimal policy under commitment delivers equilibrium determinacy regardless of the degree of asset market participation. Our results may justify Fed's behavior during the ‘Great Inflation’ period.     

Financial innovations and currency demand: Some new evidence

This paper presents new evidence on the importance of financial innovations for the demand for currency. We use Finnish data on credit card transactions to estimate a currency demand equation which fits the data very well, implies meaningful elasticities and does not suffer from obvious diagnostic problems such as parameter instability. As far as the key elasticities are concerned, it turns out that credit card transactions have a strong offsetting effect on currency demand. By contrast, inflation and tax evasion have only an insignificant demand effect.     

影响城市发展的十大因素

1987年,在《我们共同的未来》报告中,布伦特兰夫人将可持续发展定义为:“可持续发展是指既满足当代人的需要,又不对后代人满足其需要的能力构成危害的发展。”其内涵是:健康的经济发展应建立在生态可持续能力、社会公正和人民积极参与自身发展决策的基础上。随着可持续发展战略,特别是《21世纪议程》在全球范围内贯彻实施,我国于1994年制定了《中国21世纪议程》,提出我国可持续发展城市的目标是:建设成规划布局合理,配套设施齐全,有利工作,方便生活,住区环境清洁、优美、安静,居住条件舒适的城市。随后,国内许多城市纷纷将可持续发展战略纳入城市远景规划目标中。城市可持续发展是指在一定的时空尺度上,以长期持续的城市增长及其结构变化,实现高度发展的城市化和现代化,从而既满足当代城市发展的现实需要,又满足未来城市的发展需求。它包括城市经济、环境、社会可持续发展三个子系统。其中,城市经济可持续发展是条件,环境可持续发展是基础,社会可持续发展是保证。本文拟从这三个子系统出发,探讨影响我国城市可持续发展的10个主要因素。     

影响国际服务贸易的宏观因素

随着经济服务化程度的深化,服务贸易在国际贸易中的地位越来越突出。1980-2000年,世界货物贸易平均年增长率为59%,而商业服务贸易的平均年增长率为71%.增长速度的差异导致国际贸易结构的变动:1980年,国际商业服务贸易占世界贸易总额的152%,2000年,这一比重提高到186%.国际贸易格局之所以发生如此变化,原因在于发达国家纷纷把目光投向服务贸易,它们竞相抢滩国际服务贸易市场,包括对发展中国家施以越来越大的压力,要求后者实现服务贸易自由化。     

影响职业教育发展的经济因素

职业教育亦称职业技术教育,是国民教育体系和人力资源开发的重要组成部分,是广大青年打开通向成功、成才大门的重要途径。经济因素对职业教育发展具有很大的影响力。