Managing competition on a two‐sided platform

On many two‐sided platforms, users on one side not only care about user participation and usage levels on the other side, but they also care about participation and usage of fellow users on the same side. Most prominent is the degree of seller competition on a platform catering to buyers and sellers. In this paper, we address how seller competition affects platform pricing, product variety, and the number of platforms that carry trade.     

Platform market competition with endogenous side decisions

This paper develops a framework to analyze platform competition in two‐sided markets in which agents endogenously decide on which side of a platform to join. We characterize the equilibrium pricing structure and perform a comparative statics analysis on how the distribution of agents’ preferences affects the platforms’ profits. We also show that the market equilibrium under profit‐maximizing platforms leads to the first best social surplus, which illustrates the importance of the price mechanism to induce more balanced participation across the two sides. This framework can be applied to analyze market competition for “rental” or “sharing” platforms. In addition, we extend our analysis to consider an initial investment stage, which makes participants the owner of some durable goods to rent out.     

Can platform competition support market segmentation? Network externalities versus matching efficiency in equity crowdfunding markets

We investigate whether, in spite of the existence of cross‐market network externalities, platform competition can lead to segmentation of the two sides of the market served by the platforms. We address this question in the context of competition between two equity crowdfunding platforms that connect startups looking for capital with prospective investors. Given the heterogeneity in the populations of startups and investors in terms of the riskiness of the former population and the degree of risk aversion of the latter population, we investigate whether there exists an equilibrium where the two populations are segmented to ensure an improved match between them. We find that the segmenting equilibrium can arise only when compatibility in terms of their risk profiles is of high importance to both populations, and compatibility is significantly more important than the size of the network externality considered by startups. Segmentation is likely to improve the welfare of both populations when the basic benefit from any kind of match is relatively high.     

INTERCHANGE FEES IN PAYMENT CARD SYSTEMS: A SURVEY OF THE LITERATURE

Abstract This paper surveys the recent literature about interchange fees in payment card systems. Interchange fees are used by payment platforms to allocate the total cost of a payment card transaction between the cardholder's bank, the issuer, and the merchant's bank, the acquirer. Each time a consumer pays by card, its bank receives an interchange fee from the merchants' bank. Banks argue that interchange fees are needed to encourage the use of electronic payment instruments, whereas merchants claim that they artificially inflate the cost of accepting cards. This paper sheds light on the ongoing debate that opposes banks to the regulatory institutions or the competition authorities in various countries, by reviewing the theoretical results of the literature and highlighting some unanswered issues.     

Towards a theory of optimal roads

The purpose is to find an allocation of a given total amount of road capital in two-dimensional space such that total transportation costs for a region are minimized. A continuous model in analogy to hydrodynamics is used. Transports are supposed to be generated by the gravity hypothesis. It is discussed how transportation paths are optimally adjusted to a given distribution of road capital, and how road capital should be distributed at a given traffic distribution. It is also discussed how the latter problem should be solved when it is taken into account that the distribution of roads affects the choice of paths.     

Heterogeneous expectations,boom-bust housing cycles,and supply conditions: A nonlinear economic dynamics approach

We combine a standard stock-flow housing market model, incorporating explicit relationships between house prices, the housing stock, and the rent level, with a parsimonious expectation formation scheme of housing market investors, reflecting an evolving mix of extrapolative and regressive expectation rules. The model results in a two-dimensional discrete-time nonlinear dynamical system. Based on realistic parameters, the model is able to generate endogenous boom-bust housing market dynamics with lasting periods of overvaluation and overbuilding. We thus exploit our model to investigate how real forces, in particular supply conditions, interact with expectations-driven housing market fluctuations.     

Towards a theory of the labor market with a public sector

The object is to specify and analyze equilibrium in a labor market with frictions when there is a significant public sector. In the vast majority of equilibrium studies on labor markets, a public sector has been ruled out by assumption. This seems a strange oversight as about 17% of workers in the US are public sector workers, whereas in western Europe, approximately 22% of workers work in the public sector. The goal in this study is to provide answers to such questions as: what happens to private sector wages if the public sector is increased? If the Government increases the number of public sector jobs, does this crowd out private sector jobs? When will private sector wages be greater (less) than the public sector wage? Reasonably complete answers to these questions (and others) are provided within the context of the model developed.     

News shock,firm dynamics and business cycles: Evidence and theory

The literature of expectation-driven business cycles has overlooked the role played by endogenous entry. This paper documents empirically news shock as a major source of fluctuations in firm dynamics and comovement between firm entry and GDP using structural vector auto-regressions. We then develop a tractable dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model to study the propagation mechanism assuming fixed operating costs for incumbents and decreasing survival rates for entrants. Our quantitative prediction closely matches the positive comovement between firm entries and core macroeconomic indicators upon news shock. These results remain robust at the sectoral level when the baseline model is extended to a two-sector setup.     

Towards a contingency theory of corporate planning: a systematic literature review

A major research stream examines corporate planning in its context by drawing on the contingency approach, which forms a major theoretical basis for the fields of strategic management and management control. This research paper provides a comprehensive review of this research stream and identifies important contingency factors, recurring results, and commonalities with the theoretical basis of the contingency approach. It reviews 195 studies that investigate the context factors of corporate planning at the organizational level of analysis and were published in ranked academic journals since 1967. This review contributes three findings to a contingency theory of corporate planning. First, this research stream is highly fragmented, replication of findings is scarce, and the cumulative growth of knowledge is restricted. My review shows that 866 different causal models link 30 context factors and 54 design aspects of the corporate planning system, and yet 498 of these causal models are only addressed in one single study. Second, the majority of contingency studies employ the selection fit approach and cross-sectional data. The more rigorous tests of contingency hypotheses, interaction fit and system fit approaches based on longitudinal data, are relatively scarce. Third, this review highlights consistent results across divergent research settings and designs. Thus, it identifies four important context factors of a corporate planning system: (a) management and planning philosophy, (b) organizational size, (c) environmental uncertainty, and (d) task interdependence. This comprehensive set of context factors facilitates the development of a more pronounced contingency theory of corporate planning.     

Towards a Social Theory of Agency

We challenge critics of agency theory who suggest that agency theory's value does not extend outside a narrow context dominated by egocentric agents seeking only to maximize wealth at the expense of the principal. Instead, we argue that agency theory's flexibility allows for its application to a variety of non‐traditional settings where the key elements of agency theory, such as self‐interest, information asymmetry, and the mechanisms used to control agency costs can vary beyond the narrow assumptions implied in traditional agency‐based research. We suggest that extending agency theory to diverse settings using a deductive approach can be accomplished by formally recognizing and incorporating the institutional context surrounding principal–agent (P–A) relations into agency‐based models. Thus, criticisms that agency theory fails to acknowledge the social context in which P–A relations occur provides not a barrier but an opportunity for extending our understanding of P–A relations to a variety of diverse contexts.     

Rent control with reputation: theory and evidence

Rent-control policy is modeled as an implicit contract between voters of a community and suppliers of rental housing. It is shown that if residents can make an ex ante commitment to never adopt rent controls they will do so. When precommitment is not possible there are conditions under which a policy of never adopting rent controls is not self-enforcing. Under such circumstances a state-invariant ceiling price is shown to be a subgame-perfect equilibrium rent-control policy. The model is tested using data for New Jersey where local option regarding the choice of rent control policy was declared constitutional in the early 1970s. Probit analysis is used to determine whether predictions of the model are supported by an investigation of factors leading to imposition of rent controls by 64 of the 245 communities in the sample.     

The economics of markets and platforms

Advances in the study of both markets and platforms contribute to economics. Platforms are typically digital markets, although platforms can designate markets generally. So, the economics of markets and the economics of platforms are one and the same. Platforms show the critical role of intermediaries in endogenous price adjustment and market clearing. The platform model remedies problems with general equilibrium analysis by combining and extending the basic Walrasian and Marshalian market models. The analysis of platforms provides explanations for the bid–ask spread, including market power, search costs, matching costs, adverse selection, and moral hazard. The study of platforms demonstrates the importance of participation and coordination in the formation of markets. The discussion emphasizes that platforms have significant implications for the theory of the firm. The analysis further considers how platforms affect innovation and entrepreneurship.     

The dynamics of Central European equity market comovements

This paper examines short-term and long-term comovements between developed European Union (EU) stock markets and those of three Central European (CE) countries which recently joined the EU. Dynamic cointegration and principal components methods are applied, in addition to static tests. While we find no evidence of cointegration for the period July 1995–February 2005 as a whole, dynamic tests reveal alternating period of cointegration disrupted by episodes dominated by short-term domestic factors. Principal components analysis reveals that a stable factor explains a large proportion of return variances. Ultimately, despite the decade-long process of alignment by CE countries with the EU, evidence of steadily increasing convergence of equity markets is lacking.     

Towards understanding the foundations of Deming's theory of management

W. Edwards Deming's management writings are used to deduce a set of axioms which can be viewed as the most basic assumptions or the foundation of his theory of management. These axioms are used to deduce some of the propositions that are the most important tenets of Deming's management theory. The relationship between Deming's familiar 14 points for management and the axioms and propositions are discussed. Issues that practicing managers need to address when implementing Deming's management philosophy are discussed.     

Adaptive learning and distributional dynamics in an incomplete markets model

Recent research shows that several DSGE models provide a closer fit to the data under adaptive learning. This paper extends this research by introducing adaptive learning in the model of Krusell and Smith (1998) with uninsurable idiosyncratic risks and aggregate uncertainty. A first contribution of this paper establishes that the equilibrium of this framework is stable under least-squares learning. The second contribution consists of showing that bounded rationality enhances the ability of this model to match the distribution of income in the US. Learning increases significantly the Gini coefficients because of the opposite effects on consumption of the capital-rich and of the capital-poor agent. The third contribution is an empirical exercise that shows that learning can account for increases in the income Gini coefficient of up to 25% in a period of 28 years. Overall, these findings suggest that adaptive learning has important distributional repercussions in this class of models.     

Thy neighbor’s jobs: geography and labor market dynamics

This paper develops three explanations for the extent of correlation between neighboring geographic areas’ economic outcomes. Export-oriented firms in neighboring counties might independently produce similar goods, or might be linked directly through the production of intermediate inputs. In either case, counties are exposed to similar demand shocks. Finally, regions share markets for goods and services that are both produced and consumed locally. Empirical results suggest that much of the ‘risk’ associated with economic decline in neighboring regions can be attributed to industrial similarity rather than direct dependence of jobs in one area on jobs in another.     

Introduction to economic theory of bubbles

This is an introduction to the special section on the economic theory of bubbles.     

职业动力论的内在机理:基于价值链的视角

文章从系统的角度分析职业动力理论的优势与不足,提出职业动力理论在组元、结构、目标等方面为构建职业生涯管理系统提供借鉴,但缺乏对职业生涯管理系统微观运行机制的探讨,进而从价值链的视角阐释其产生职业动力的内在机理,最后构建了由价值设定、价值开发、价值评价与分配组成的职业生涯管理价值链系统。