Prices and Deadweight Loss in Multiproduct Monopoly

The paper investigates prices and deadweight loss in multiproduct monopoly with linear interrelated demand and constant marginal costs. We show that, with commonly used models for linear demand such as the Bowley demand and vertically or horizontally differentiated demand, the price for each good is independent of demand cross‐effects and of the characteristics and number of other goods. This contrasts with the oft‐expressed view that prices critically depend on demand cross‐effects. We also show that for these linear models, the deadweight loss due to monopoly amounts to half the total monopoly profit. Finally, we show how a production subsidy might restore social efficiency.     

Nonlinearity in dynamic adjustment: Semiparametric estimation of panel labor supply

We estimate a semiparametric dynamic panel data model by the local linear kernel method and we interpret the slope of the nonparametric component function as a varying slope coefficient. Thus, the slope coefficient is a smooth, but otherwise unknown, function of some of the regressors. A Monte Carlo experiment is reported to examine the finite sample performance of the local linear estimator. We apply the estimation method to a labor supply equation for men from the triannual Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP). Specification tests based on the estimated labor supply elasticities, partial adjustment coefficients, and residuals demonstrate the improvements from a semiparametric partially linear model. Our empirical results point to a need by economists to revisit the issue of the speed of labor market adjustment to policy induced shifts in labor demand and to take more formal econometric account of heterogeneity in wage effects when studying the distributional consequences of tax reforms for labor supply earnings. First version received: July 2000/Final version received: January 2001     

Transformations for an exact goodness-of-fit test of structural change in the linear regression model

This paper considers testing for structural change of unknown form in the linear regression model as a problem of testing for goodness-of-fit. Transformations of recursive (or other LUS) residuals that reduce the problem to one of testing independently distributed uniform variables are presented. Exact empirical distribution function tests can then be applied without having to estimate unknown Parameters. The tests are illustrated by their application to a money demand model.     

Trade Policies for Exporting Industries under Free Entry

This paper computes optimal export taxes and domestic production subsidies for exporting industries under free entry. We show that domestic welfare is not at maximum, as is typically believed, when the export price is a monopoly price, and the domestic price is a competitive price, because a market structure effect has to be taken into account. Furthermore, we show that the optimal tax/subsidy formulas for an oligopoly coincide with those under perfect competition, if foreign and domestic demand functions are both linear. We also discuss optimal trade policies when only one instrument is available, and we run numerical simulations to determine and compare optimal trade taxes under endogenous and exogenous market structures.     

河南省粮田人口承载力影响因素的实证分析

对土地人口承载力理论的国内外研究现状进行了综述;结合前人的研究成果,选取相应指标,在协整分析的基础上,运用多元线性回归方法对河南省粮田人口承载力的影响因素进行了实证分析。结果显示:人口因素、农业劳动力生产技术水平因素和土地因素与粮田人口承载力正相关,其中人口因素的影响最大;粮食需求因素与粮田人口承载力负相关。最后提出提高河南省粮田人口承载力的政策建议。     

ON THE TIMING OF PRODUCTION DECISIONS IN MONETARY ECONOMIES

In most macroeconomic models inflation tends to be harmful. In this article, we show that by simply changing the timing of production decisions by firms from “on demand” to “in advance,” some inflation can boost welfare as long as goods are sufficiently perishable. The main conclusion from this research is that by effectively hiding the strategic interaction between supply and demand, assuming production on demand is not without loss of generality.     

Is the Government Failure Theory Still Relevant? A panel analysis using US state level data

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the robustness of the government failure theory. A core feature of the government failure theory is demand heterogeneity. Previous studies have brought into question the robustness of the government failure theory, due to inconsistent results concerning the explanatory power of demand heterogeneity. Therefore, in this paper we revisit this important research agenda using US state level panel data. We find the two‐way fixed effects model a suitable model for testing the government failure theory's robustness and present findings which indicate that observable demand heterogeneity has a positive effect on the size of the nonprofit sector. This paper also empirically examines the relevance of the complementary financing hypothesis in terms of the cooperative nature of the governmental and nonprofit sector relationship; that is where governments delegate the production of quasi‐public goods to the nonprofit sector.     

Strategic interactions and airline network morphology under demand uncertainty

In this paper, we examine how strategic interactions affect airline network under demand uncertainty. We develop a three-stage duopoly game: at stage 1 airlines determine their network structure (linear versus hub-and-spoke); at stage 2 they decide on their capacities; at stage 3 firms compete in quantities. The main feature of the model is that firms have to decide on network structure and capacities while facing demand uncertainty. We show that while hubbing is efficient, airlines may choose a linear network for strategic reasons. Furthermore, we show that this structure softens competition by preventing contagion of competition across markets.     

Factor demand explanation in the COMET model

The COMET model is an interconnected set of 13 econometric country models, one for each member country of the European Economic Community and for some other countries as well. Within each country model demand for production factors, including energy, is explained by a multi-output/multi-input national production structure resulting in an internally coherent subset of four input equations, which allows for reasonably realistic dynamics and involves only a limited number of unknown coefficients, which are internationally comparable. The estimates display considerable similarity across countries, rather weak price responses, but relatively strong substitution between labour and capital.     

Monopoly and demand uncertainty

We develop a formal framework to analyse a monopoly’s problem when demand is determined by a Poisson-distribution and the valuations of the buyers are draws from a common distribution. The buyers have unit demand, and the good in question is discrete. The monopoly has to make its quantity and pricing decisions before demand is realised. We determine sufficient conditions for the monopoly’s pricing decision to be unique, and we demonstrate the difference to the planner’s problem by numerical examples. We also study an economy with a fixed number of buyers assuming that the valuations are draws from the uniform distribution. When the economy grows in the limit one recovers the standard case of a monopoly with linear demand and constant marginal costs.     

Oligopoly Information Exchange when Non-negative Price and Output Constraints may Bind

The oligopoly information exchange literature has consistently employed linear demand functions. This paper explores whether earlier results are sensitive to the assumption of linear demand. Non-linearity arises naturally from the condition that prices and outputs be non-negative. We show standard results on information sharing can be reversed when there is the chance that non-negativity constraints bind: in a homogeneous-goods Cournot duopoly with constant marginal costs, information sharing can be profitable and it can reduce social welfare.     

Capacity Investment with Dynamic Operation and Intertemporal Budget Balance

We characterize the optimal investment and production path in a project characterized by indivisible capacity and stochastic inverse demand curve. At first best (without budget requirements), the investment is made earlier the lower the price elasticity of demand, causing the trajectory of production to be below the trajectory of capacity. At second best (when the investor is required to break even), the investment delay is upward distorted, the distortion being larger the lower the price elasticity of demand. Moreover, in the particular case of constant elasticity demand, investment is delayed but production remains at its first‐best level.     

Optimal Experimentation in a Changing Environment

This paper studies optimal experimentation by a monopolist who faces an unknown demand curve subject to random changes, and who maximizes profits over an infinite horizon in continuous time. We show that there are two qualitatively very different regimes, determined by the discount rate and the intensities of demand curve switching, and the dependence of the optimal policy on these parameters is discontinuous. One regime is characterized by extreme experimentation and good tracking of the prevailing demand curve, the other by moderate experimentation and poor tracking. Moreover, in the latter regime the agent eventually becomes "trapped" into taking actions in a strict subset of the feasible set.     

Symbiotic Production and Optimal Export Policy

This paper constructs a two‐country trade model to examine the optimal policies relating to the export of final and intermediate products under Cournot as well as Bertrand competition when firms engage in symbiotic production internationally. The paper shows that given linear demand for the final product, the optimal export policies are to tax the exports of both the final and intermediate goods under symbiotic production, regardless of whether firms engage in Cournot or Bertrand competition in the final good market, which is contrary to the conventional wisdom.     

Currency substitution and nonlinear error correction in Taiwan's demand for broad money

We modify the conventional money demand function by including a real exchange rate variable to reflect the effect of currency substitution. Empirical evidence indicates that the variable is crucial to the long-run stability of Taiwan's money demand. After finding the failure of a linear error-correction model (ECM) in describing the dynamics of Taiwan's money demand, we apply a nonlinear ECM to examine its dynamics and support the appropriateness of the nonlinear model empirically.     

A generalized impure public good and linear characteristics model of green consumption

This paper provides a general framework for understanding consumer behavior related to goods and services that may be considered environmentally friendly, ethically produced, fairly traded, or some combination thereof. We generalize the impure public good model and derive its comparative static properties. The model accounts for any number of impure public (green) goods and joint production of any number of both private and public characteristics. The generalization provides a bridge between the impure public good model and the well-known linear characteristics model, both of which are special cases of the model developed here. The results show how demand for green goods and characteristics such as environmental quality depends on wealth, exogenously given levels of public goods, and the technologies of joint production. The effects of changes in technology depend critically on whether jointly produced characteristics are complements or substitutes in consumption. Several of the results are rather counterintuitive and differ in meaningful ways from existing models of impure public goods and linear characteristics. The results also illuminate several reasons for greater caution about whether it is reasonable to assume that green goods and services are necessarily beneficial for the provision of public goods.     

An econometric application of the theory of the farm-household

Employing a Cobb-Douglas specification for the production function and a modified linear expenditure system, the paper presents an econometric model of household production, consumption and labor supply behaviour for a semi-commercial farm with a competitive labor market. The model, estimated from primary, cross-sectional, Malaysian data, is used to analyse the impact of migration, output price intervention and technological change on the agricultural sector. In doing so, the wage-rate is treated as an endogenous variable to be determined by the interaction of aggregate labor demand and supply curves obtained from the estimated micro functions.     

产需双重不确定情形下绿色农产品供应链的协调研究

为解决产需不确定性给绿色农产品供应链运营带来的复杂影响,寻求绿色农产品生产商和销售商面对产需双重不确定情形下各自的最优决策,研究从农产品产出和市场需求双重不确定性视角出发,结合目前消费者对绿色农产品的需求偏好,构建由生产商和销售商组成的Stackelberg博弈模型,探究收益共享契约能否有效协调产需都不确定的绿色农产品供应链。研究结果表明:分散决策时的批发价契约无法协调此供应链。引入收益共享契约后,在合适的共享系数范围内,生产商的农资投入量会增加,农产品的绿色度会比分散决策时高,同时销售商的销售价格降低;当农产品订购量变大后,引入契约后的生产商和销售商各自的利润相较于分散决策时更高。     

Bilateral Merger a Note on Salant-Switzer-Reynolds Model

The SSR (1983, QJE) paper shows that in an oligopoly industry of kfirms (k > 2) with linear demand and identical (constant) average cost of production, a bilateral merger is never profitable when all firms choose their quantities simultaneously. In this paper we re-examine the issue when some firms have first-mover advantage. We find that in a leader-follower structure a bilateral merger is always profitable when a leader and a follower merge together and the merged firm behaves like a leader. But, a bilateral merger between leaders or between followers may not be privately profitable.

     

Attending to inattention: Identification of deadweight loss under nonsalient taxes

Recent developments in behavioral public economics have shown that heterogeneous biases prevent point identification of deadweight loss. We replicate this result for an arbitrary (closed) consumption set, whereas previous results on heterogeneous attention focused on binary choice. We find that one can bound the efficiency costs of taxation based on aggregate features of demand. When individuals have linear demand functions, the bounds for deadweight loss are easy to calculate from linear regressions.