European Natural Gas Markets: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Review of Industrial Organization - Recent natural gas price dynamics in Europe show convergence to the extent that locational price differentials approached transport tariffs, and hence, arbitrage...     

Household Behavior with Imperfect Labor Markets

A household model with differential asset endowments and idiosyncratic transactions costs in accessing labor markets is developed to (1) explain membership of farm households to alternative labor regimes (sellers, employers, or self-sufficient in labor), (2) test for recursivity between production and consumption decisions selectively by labor regime, and (3) identify the determinants of differential labor productivity across labor regimes. The model is applied to a 1994 household survey of the Mexican land reform sector.     

运用信托制度促进企业资本运营

今年十月一日正式实施的《中华人民共和国信托法》 ,第一次在我国引入了信托制度 ,这不仅正式确立了一种新型的财产管理制度 ,也为企业实施资本运营增添了有力的手段。所谓信托 ,就是指委托人基于对受托人的信任 ,将其财产权委托给受托人 ,由受托人按委托人的意愿 ,以自己的名义为受益人的利益或者特定目的 ,进行管理或者处分的行为。《信托法》规定 ,“受托人因承诺信托而取得的财产是信托财产” ,因此 ,信托的设立是以财产所有权的转移为前提的。委托人将其合法所有的财产转移给受托人 ,受托人成为信托财产的名义持有人。同时 ,《信托法》…     

The Integration of Mortgage Markets and Capital Markets

In this paper, we develop a model to predict the impact of deregulation in the form of relaxing interest rate control on the integration between the mortgage credit market and the general credit market. The model is tested through the examination of the long-term Granger-like equilibrium relationship between mortgage interest rates and general interest rates in the pre-1980 regulated vs. the post-1980 deregulated periods. It is shown that the level of regulation, in the form of targeting general interest rate levels, contributes to the segmentation of the mortgage market from the capital market. To test this model, we compare the relationship between mortgage interest rates and general interest rates around 1980 where major control on interest rate levels in capital markets was lifted. Using Engle and Granger's procedure to overcome the estimation problem from nonstationarity in the interest rate series, we are able to find that the two interest rates were cointegrated after 1980 but not before. More importantly, it appears that the two markets were already integrated before the full development of the secondary mortgage markets between 1984 and 1987. Therefore, we conclude that the bulk of the integration between the mortgage and capital markets was completed as a result of the removal of interest rate controls around 1980, in contrast with previous studies that find integration occurred during the mid-1980s primarily as a result of the rapid development of the secondary mortgage markets.     

Competition in Two-Sided Markets with Common Network Externalities

We study competition in two-sided markets with a common network externality rather those than with the standard inter-group effects. This type of externality occurs when both groups benefit, possibly with different intensities, from an increase in the size of one group and from a decrease in the size of the other. We explain why common externality is relevant for the health and education sectors. We focus on symmetric equilibrium and show that when the externality itself satisfies a homogeneity condition then platforms’ profits and price structures have some specific properties. Our results reveal how the rents coming from network externalities are shifted by platforms from one side to the other, according to the homogeneity degree. Prices are affected but in such a way that platforms only transfer rents from consumers to providers. In the specific but realistic case where the common network externality is homogeneous of degree zero, platforms’ profits do not depend on the intensity of the (common) network externality. This result differs from those of the two-sided models, which deal with standard positive inter-group network externality.     

Allocating Control over Firms: Stock Markets versus Membership Markets

The theory of the firm must explain howdecision-making powers are allocated between suppliersof capital and labor. Most large enterprises awardformal control to investors rather than workers. Isuggest here that this asymmetry can be traced in partto differences between stock markets and membershipmarkets as institutional mechanisms for allocatingcontrol over firms. The attractive theoreticalproperties of membership markets are examined, alongwith some factors that may account for their rarity inpractice. These practical difficulties help explainthe rarity of labor-managed firms themselves, alongwith various facts about their design, behavior, anddistribution across industries.     

Markets without boundaries

Western economies, and the US in particular, are experiencing a dramatic diversification and proliferation of information activities which will effect all aspects of leisure and business. Against this background, Manley Irwin considers the nature of market entry, the reasons why markets are changing so rapidly, and the implications for both public and private sectors. He concludes that the blurring of market boundaries will defuse and decentralize economies, spur competition and encourage entrepreneurial activity.     

产品市场与金融市场的战略互动与经济增长

产品市场与金融市场作为信息集散和企业监控机制在功能上具有一定的替代性；同时，当事人在两个市场上的战略行动又会产生溢出效应，从而形成两个市场间的战略互补关系。两市场间的这种相互作用客观上弱化了各自的协调失灵问题。进一步引入不确定性，发现当事人知识的差异性也会导致专业分工，从而刺激具有不同专业知识的人采取有溢出效应的战略行动，结果导致了两市场之间的战略互补关系。这种不确定性引发的两市场战略互补对经济增长有重要影响，并且其中也有乘数效应。     

理性迎接2005

6月15日至17日(当地时间),在欧洲的布鲁塞尔小小地热闹了3天,一些国家的纺织行业组织以及纺织企业,在这里举行所谓的以纺织及服装业公平贸易为议题的<伊斯坦布尔宣言>高峰会,来自五个洲的纺织品制造商联合起来反对中国,称中国廉价的出口对世界各地几百万的工作机会造成威胁.目的是集合全球纺织及服装业领袖的力量,要求世贸解决纺织品及服装配额撤销后出现的问题.这些组织及一些纺织制造商在布鲁塞尔会议上呼吁政府领导人制裁来自中国的低价纺织品,否则他们将面临"全球的经济、政治和社会动荡".他们说,如果今年底纺织进口配额被取消,中国将"垄断"全球的纺织服装市场,迫使全世界至少损失3000万个工作机会.欧洲纺织协会会长Jean-Francois ribomont甚至说,"我们今天是在打一场经济战,我们必须使用战争的所有武器."     

Research on Office Markets

The American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association is pleased to acknowledge the support of the Homer Hoyt Institute for this special issue on office markets. I am particularly grateful to Maury Seldin, President of the Homer Hoyt Institute, for recognizing the importance of this emerging and timely research area. His support for office market research and his ability to bring together academics, practitioners, and crucial data constitute a valuable contribution to this research area. I also acknowledge the advice and assistance of the former editors of the AREUEA Journal, Donald Haurin and Patric Hendershott; and the current editors, Dennis Capozza, James Shilling, and Kerry Vandell.     

Spatial Price Discrimination in Input Markets with an Endogenous Market Boundary

This paper examines the welfare effect of third-degree price discrimination in a vertically related market with one upstream monopolist that sells its input to a continuum of downstream markets. Assume that the market boundary of the monopolist is endogenously determined. It is found that social welfare is necessarily lower under discriminatory than uniform pricing, even if the market area of the former is greater than that of the latter. This finding is contrary to that in the extant literature on price discrimination in final goods markets.     

Entry in Local Telecommunication Markets

In this paper, we explore the determinants of recent entry into local exchange service, and the role that regulatory policies have had in aiding this policy objective. Our results suggest that the 1996 Telecommunications Act did lead to some entry, but that strategic non-price behavior by incumbents may have offset this impact to some extent. We also find that regulatory policies and market fundamentals play an important role in determining entry. Clearly, market size (measured in various ways) is an important determinant of entry, while there is empirical support for the role of more flexible regulatory mechanisms in promoting new entry.     

折叠/胶粘机的重大发展

在折叠纸盒领域,折叠/胶粘机(FG)和柔版折叠/胶粘机(FFG)是最常用的纸盒生产设备之一。有了折叠/胶粘机和柔版折叠/胶粘机,纸盒生产厂家就能够适应市场和客户的需要,满足多种不同纸盒承印物材料以及特殊操作的要求,并可以选择标准折叠、背折、反折、开天窗以及一系列的质量控制操作。目前市场上有什么新技术?又是什么力量促使向折叠/胶粘机转变的呢?对此,BCI公司最近同折叠/胶粘机和柔版折叠/胶粘机制造厂商进行了交流和探讨,并得出结论:员工人数已经发生了重大的变化,并对机器设计和控制设计产生了直接的影响;此外,激烈的市场竞争也促使纸盒和包装的操作参数不断地增多;同时,印刷数量的差异也越来越大,短版活也许只有100-200个纸盒,而长版活的数量则可达到100000个之多。     

塑料制品在变化的市场中崭露头角

随着技术的不断改进，传统的优质塑料已被重塑成各种新型的热卖商品。在１９６７年的电影《毕业生》中，对年轻的BenjaminBraddock来说，“塑料”一词意味着可怕而灰暗的未来。但是今天，这一传统的职业再也不能和不可想象的苦差事联系在一起了。今天，塑料制品中出现了许多令人兴奋的新设计和新造型，用以满足各种不断进步的应用需求，因而塑料逐渐成为高科技产品的一种完美补充。塑料的一个新的应用领域为电话卡和礼品卡市场，而且呈稳定上升的趋势。一些礼品卡可以做成充值卡的形式，有助于消除欺诈行为，因为这些卡只有被激活后才具有…     

柔版印前技术的发展动态

近几年来，柔版印刷方式的发展速度比较快，一直都高于胶印、凹印等印刷方式的增长速度，而且在未来一段时期内柔版印刷仍将保持较快的发展势头。据Ｐｉｒａｉｎｔｅｒｎａｔｉｏｎａｌ推测，到２０１０年，柔印所占的市场份额将由目前的１８％增长到２２％，而胶印、凹印和凸印所占的比重都会有不同程度的下降，其中下降最为严重的将是胶印，将由目前的４６％减少到３０％。柔版印刷工艺之所以能够保持这么快的增长速度，原因之一就在于其印前技术的发展和提高。事实上，在大西洋沿岸，柔版印刷方式在包装印刷中占到了６０％，是柔版印刷的…     

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.     

Recession Hits China's Textile Machinery Markets

China's textile machinery industry saw a continued decline intotaI profit and a hefty slump in imports and exports in the first twomonths this year.Analysts anticipated a continued weakening ofmomentum for China's textile machinery markets owing to weakerconsumer spending and easing export growth.