The European Single Market in Electricity: An Economic Assessment

The European single market in electricity has been promoted vigorously by the European Commission since 1996. We discuss how national electricity markets and cross-border electricity markets have been reshaped by the process. We examine the Commission’s own work on evaluating the benefits of the single market. We look at the wider evidence of impact on prices, security of supply, the environment, and innovation. We conclude that the institutional changes are extensive and there has been significant market harmonisation and integration. However, the measured benefits are difficult to identify, but likely to be small. This is partly because over the same period there has been a large rise in subsidised renewable generation that is driven by the decarbonisation agenda.

     

Discounts and Public Service Obligations in the Airline Market: Lessons from Spain

We examine the impact of the universal service policy that was applied to the Spanish airline market during the period 2001?C2009. Our analysis shows that routes that benefit from price discounts that were granted by the government to island residents enjoy higher demand than the rest of the country??s domestic routes. However, the lower elasticity of demand of these routes allows airlines to set higher prices. We also find that airlines that operate inter-island routes on which their services are regulated by price caps and frequency floors charge lower prices and schedule higher flight frequencies than is the case on unregulated routes. Overall, our analysis suggests that price discounts for island residents help guarantee the profitability of routes that are regulated by public service obligations.     

Incomes Policy for Europe? or Will Pay Bargaining Destroy the Single European Market?

With European economic and monetary union, pay bargaining encounters a new set of constraints: devaluation is no longer available to compensate for inflation, and economic restructuring for the Single Market will place great strain on wage structures. The article analyses the problems posed to pay bargainers, and argues that, instead of pressing for more centralized bargaining, greater encouragement should be given to pay systems that favour more flexible use of labour and reduce the tendency to transmit inflationary pressures from one group to another. Joint regulation has a critical part to play in the effectiveness of these systems.     

The Single Market in Pharmaceuticals

Review of Industrial Organization - This paper examines the state of the single market in the European Union (EU) for pharmaceuticals. As with other products, the EU has adopted a number of...     

Publication of Information and Market Response: The Case of Airline on Time Performance Reports

This paper investigates market response to publication of on time performance information. Theory suggests that reduction in search costs generates more honest airlines and better quality service, a distribution of price-quality bundles, increased demand, exit by inefficient airlines and reduction of price rigidity. An ARIMA study of U.S. domestic airline operations finds that after publication of performance information the market generated better performance, increased quality distribution, enhanced demand, exit by four of fourteen airlines and reduced price-quality rigidity. Publication of information may improve performance in markets characterized by asymmetric information and high search costs.     

欧盟开放电力市场通览

1996年12月，英国、法国、德国、奥地利、比利时、丹麦、芬兰、希腊、爱尔兰、意大利、卢森堡、荷兰、葡萄牙、西班牙、瑞典等欧盟15个成员国达成了建立内部统一电力市场的协议，随后欧盟委员会颁布了96/92/EC指令。按照该指令的要求，欧盟成员国必须在1999年2月将电网对外开放，允许第三方进入，并将本国电力市场的25%对外开放，到2006年底电力市场的开放度要达到1/3。虽然欧盟各成员国开放电力市场有先有后，进程不一，但都能积极响应。英国、北欧的挪威、芬兰、瑞典和西欧的西班牙等国家走在前面。实际执行的结果，到1999年2月整个欧盟…     

欧洲市场食品新型软包装

欧洲在世界软包装印刷技术发展中处于领先地位。尤其是该地区的各种食品包装的包装结构、印刷方式和包装方式,对我国食品生产及包装企业有一定的参考价值。下面重点介绍几种新型软包装:1、饮料软包装随着环保方面的要求越来越严格,软包装也正在成为一种趋势。多种不同结构的新型包装正成功满足饮料苛刻的保鲜要求。印刷方式为凹印或柔印。包装形式为立式袋等。包装材料的结构和特性:PET/ALU/PE,适用于各种果汁等饮料立式包装袋,机械性能非常好,适合于热封;PET/EVOH/PE,适用于各种果汁等饮料立式包装袋,阻隔性好、透明性好;PET/ALU…     

EU Commission versus Volkswagen: New Evidence on Price Differentiation in the European Car Market

This paper is motivated by the large fine the EuropeanCommission imposed on Volkswagen in January 1998 forobstructing sales to foreigners. The first partdiscusses the competitive framework in which the carsector operates, especially the exclusive dealershipsystem. This is followed by a detailed examination ofthe degree of price-differentiation across nationalmarkets by 24 major manufacturers. The evidencereveals VW and Audi not to be special cases. Thisfinding implies that the Commission should reconsiderits own block exemption if it wants to establisha more competitive car market along the principles ofthe Common Market.     

Labour Market Regimes and Worker Recruitment and Retention in the European Union: Plant Comparisons

We analyse worker recruitment and retention outcomes, contrasting production worker skill profiles in the UK subsidiaries of five multinationals with, in each case, a matched plant in another EU state. From personnel records we build up plant distributions of worker pay, age, schooling, prior experience and tenure. We find evidence of local management discretion, with differences in unit labour costs and in recruitment/retention outcomes between the matched subsidiaries. UK plants have a 'hire and fire' environment and a less skilled worker mix. Such outcomes can be linked to the UK's lower labour costs and less regulated labour market.     

欧洲成品油零售市场发展给我们的启示

欧洲成品油市场发展已相对成熟,但竞争仍十分激烈。为客户最大限度地提供便利服务、降低销售成本和积极应用先进的技术手段是加油站发展的方向。重视HSE(健康、安全、环保)建设是油品销售企业发展的重要社会责任。面对国内市场国际化的挑战,中国成品油销售企业必须学习和借鉴国际大石油公司的发展经验,加速管理理念更新,进一步强化五种观念,即网络化观念、市场观念、信息观念、细节服务观念和HSE观念,加快推进油品销售管理的信息化建设,加速提高加油站管理水平和竞争能力。     

Copyright Protection in the Digital Single Market: Potential Consequences for Content Platform Competition

This paper scrutinizes the effects of the European Directive on Copyright in the Digital Single Market on platform competition. Platforms that are online content-sharing service providers must have a license agreement with collective management organizations that control the content platform that users may – or must not – upload to the platform. The paper shows that the new directive may imply market concentration and an aggregate welfare loss. The reason is that only users of the large platform (in a dual platform setting) will be allowed to upload content if the content assets are sufficiently valuable and if network effects are strong.

     

Regulating the European Labour Market: Prospects and Limitations of a Reflexive Governance Approach

This article reviews developments in European Union employment policy from the perspective of reflexive governance. Reflexive governance instruments have a procedural orientation and provide a structural framework or steering mechanism to facilitate a process of self‐regulation. Recent developments in relation to the Employment Framework Directive, the European Employment Strategy and the Working Time Directive highlight some of the prospects and limitations of this reflexive approach to regulating employment relations and the potential impact on the UK labour market. These developments indicate that the hopes invested in the reflexive approach remain to be fulfilled.     

欧盟电力市场化改革最新进展及启示

欧盟推进电力市场化改革的主要目标是要建立欧洲统一电力市场。根据欧盟电力市场化改革第2号指令的要求,2007年7月开始全部用户市场开放,在2004年7月和2007年7月分别实现输电运行机构和配电运行机构从竞争性业务中分离出来。为进一步加强跨国电力交易,欧盟加快了泛欧洲输电网建设进程,推进统一的输电交易和阻塞管理机制,推动各国深化电力改革和各国电力市场之间的融合。而欧盟电力市场化改革及推进面临挑战。对中国而言,建立统一开放的电力市场体系是电力市场化改革方向,但业务分拆和电力市场机制建设必须协调推进。     

欧洲主要国家药品定价和补偿制度的比较分析

通过比较分析的方法深入探讨欧洲各主要国家药品定价和补偿制度的特点以及经济学评价的应用情况。如何评价新药的创新性已成为各国政府在规制药品市场时共同面临的关键性问题,而与创新水平评价密切相关的带有“双重定价”意味的定价体制值得我国政府在平衡控制药品费用和激发医药产业创新实力这一矛盾时借鉴学习。     

Institutions and business networks: A comparative analysis of the Chinese, Russian, and West European markets

The paper analyses business networks originating from three markets: Chinese, Russian, and West European. So far, little attention has been given to the fact that business networks in particular markets may be dissimilar because of differences among institutions. The paper advances a model where institutions are assumed to influence five major characteristics of business; (1) the processual aspects of the network, (2) the structural aspects of the network, (3) the function of firms and relationships in the network, (4) the meaning of strategy and planning, and (5) social relationships in the context of inter-firm relationships. The analysis builds on three types of substances of institutions — cognitive, normative, and regulative, which in turn are specified according to different aspects. The cognitive substance of business networks is explored through the aspects of self, time, and causality. The normative substance is explored through the aspects of achieved versus ascribed status, inner versus outer direction, universalism versus particularism, and trust. The regulative substance is specified as an authority system and a sanction system. The analysis demonstrates that, as institutions differ in these three markets, the business among them also differs in terms of the five characteristics, and this variation calls for different strategies for firms operating in these markets.     

A Holy Alliance: Collusion in the Renaissance Europe Alum Market

On June 11, 1470, representatives of Pope Paul II and Ferdinand, King of Naples concluded a cartel agreement to restrict competition in the sale of alum. The agreement was one element of a broader plan to monopolize the sale of alum throughout Christendom. We discuss the background of the cartel agreement and analyze its terms (which include arrangements to facilitate detection of and reduce the profitability of defection) and the constraints that limited, but did not eliminate, Rome’s ability to extract economic profit from the European alum market.     

Mobile service innovation: A European failure

The continuing absence of innovation in Europe’s mobile services industry is identified and characterised here, with such examples as mobile Internet and mobile music. Innovation failure is a critical factor leading to a lack of high-income jobs, network effects, and price reductions for data services. Most mobile service innovations have been made in Japan in ‘clubs of operators’ with their suppliers. Apple USA followed the same model of control with its iPhone. Conversely, a lack of this critical type of competition characterises European operators. Revenues per citizen are in some countries similar to those in Japan, but with handsets with less functions. Europe and all other regions face the challenge of competing with Japanese and US innovators. The lessons to be learned are (1) becoming aware of the situation, (2) allocating spectrum that covers a sufficient population size to allow technological competition, and (3) developing a strong customer orientation.