Announcement and call for papers

Announcement and call for papers     

Competition in telecommunication networks with call externalities

This paper describes a model involving two interconnected networks offering different degrees of quality. In these networks, there are call externalities enabling consumers to assess the quality of the calls they send and receive. Networks compete in two-part tariffs. Our aim is to show that the “profit neutrality” result no longer applies due to network asymmetry and call externalities. In the case of non reciprocal access charges, call externalities generate private incentives enabling each competitor to charge low access prices. This reduces the risk of tacit collusion as competitors are free to negotiate their access charges.      

Fixed-to-mobile call substitution and telephony market definition in Korea

An appropriate market definition is critical in most antitrust cases. In practice, antitrust authorities define economic markets in a deterministic manner with little concern about the risk involved in defining markets incorrectly. In contrast, this article proposes a probabilistic market definition method by which antitrust authorities can establish a statistical confidence level for their intended market-definition judgments. As an application, we examine the likelihood that the fixed-line and mobile telephony services in Korea can compete in the same economic market. Combining critical loss analysis with a hierarchical Bayes model for stated preference data, we find some evidence for the separation of the fixed-line and mobile telephony markets in present-day Korea. After discussing certain possible regulation biases for market definition, we predict that the two markets will converge in the near future as the mobile price premium continues to decrease.     

New Austrian macro theory: A call for inquiry

This essay sketches some contours of what we think can reasonably be called New Austrian macro theory. By New Austrian, macro we mean a style of theorizing that incorporates the core of traditional or Old Austrian macro and pushes that core in new directions by using new analytical tools and methods. We would note that New Austrian is not some invention or construction de novo, but is a product of blending some traditional Austrian insights and formulations with new analytical formulations that were never part of the Austrian tradition but which can multiply the analytical oomph of that tradition. In this essay, we explain that the traditional Austrian macro theory suffers not from analytical wrong-headedness but from an underdevelopment of those complementary pieces of intellectual capital that would render Austrian macro once again a significant player in the efforts of economists to theorize about the properties of economic systems in their entirety.