Antitrust,the Rule of Reason,and Democracy

Professor Barnes responds to William Curran's fictional dialogue between Senator John Sherman and philosopher John Rawls, with a fictional letter from Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas. Professor Barnes discusses the importance of the anarcho-socialist movement of the late nineteenth century to the adoption of the Sherman Act, the historical and logical inevitability of adoption of a rule of reason in antitrust law, the relevance of efficiency to the rule of reason, and the relationship between competition and the promotion of democratic ideals.     

Delusions Regarding the Proper Role of Markets and Antitrust Policy

William Curran and Donald Wellington have criticized capitalism,neoclassical economics and antitrust policy. This article defendscapitalistic institutions against both the strong forms ofsocialism as practiced in the former Soviet Union and againstits milder forms as practiced in the welfare states of Europe.The article endorses some of Curran's and Wellington's concernsabout neoclassical economics, but recommends that neoclassicaleconomics be adapted to make it more useful for scientificresearch rather than abandoned outright. Some suggestions areoffered in this direction. The article totally rejects the notionthat antitrust policy can be a tool for correcting the ills ofcapitalism as Curran and Wellington see them, and argues that thegoal of antitrust policy should be to improve capitalism not todestroy it.     

After The Fall: Stock Price Movements and the Deterrent Effect of Antitrust Enforcement

In this paper, we utilize data on stock price movements of firms indicted on price-fixing charges to infer expectations of antitrust recidivism. Specifically, a return of the firm's (market-adjusted) asset value to its pre-indictment level in the post-indictment period is taken as evidence of stockholders' expectations of a return to collusive behavior. From these data, we are able to make direct inferences about the effectiveness of antitrust enforcement actions. Importantly, we find that the stock prices of 85 percent of the firms in our sample had regained 100 percent of their pre-indictment levels within one year of the antitrust action. Such widespread and rapid stock price appreciation casts doubt on the durability of thedeterrent effect of Section 1 enforcement.     

The Evolution of Competition Policy in Indonesia

This paper assesses the evolution of the new Indonesian competition law passed in 1999, and the creation of the Competition Commission. The first half of the paper traces the debate and process of deregulation and liberalization that preceded the introduction of the law. Whilst deregulation did lead to increased competition and efficiency, distortions to competition in the goods sector still persisted due to ad hoc and non transparent measures taken due to government interventions and vested interests. The services and infrastructure sectors were only partially liberalized. The second half of the paper evaluates the debate on competition law and assesses its introduction and implementation. In the brief period of implementation to date, the tension between a pro-competition and an anti-bigness interpretation of the Law is evident. The paper concludes that ambiguities in the law should be eliminated, that the competition agency focuses on advocacy and introducing transparent procedures rather than hastening towards concluding investigations, and that competition issues faced by independent regulatory agencies in the services and infrastructure sectors should be introduced carefully.     

Defining Market Dominance: A Study of Antitrust Decisions on Business Acquisitions in New Zealand

Information from the 207 decisions of the New ZealandCommerce Commission on business acquisitions for1991–96 are used to test how the Commission assessedmarket dominance. Dominance is found to emerge whereboth the market share of the merged entity and theentry barriers were high. A probit regression modelsuggests that there was a 50% probability thatdominance would be found when market share was 75%,in a market where the entry barrier was high. Theapplication of the US merger guidelines to a sub-setof markets finds that the dominance threshold ofanti-competitiveness applied to New Zealand mergerswas very much more lenient than the substantiallessening of competition threshold used in the U.S.     

虚拟合作竞争:机理、系统模型及实证研究

在网络经济环境下,传统的竞争范式已不适应,一种新的竞争范式——虚拟合作竞争应运而生。本文在有关研究的基础上,对虚拟合作竞争的内涵、特征、主体、客体、市场、虚拟合作关系和虚拟竞争关系进行了较系统地探索性研究,提出了由客户、供应商、互惠者、协力者、替代者、潜在进入者、竞争者7种力量,以及它们相互间基于网络化信息系统所形成的3种虚拟合作关系,以及3种虚拟竞争关系所构成的虚拟合作竞争模型,并以利丰公司为例进行了实证。     

航天产业与市场运行机制的兼容性分析

本文从航天技术商业化和航天活动主体多元化趋势的角度来分析航天产业与市场运行机制兼容的基础,分析了航天产业市场竞争的特点,制约我国航天产业引入市场运行机制的几个因素,并提出了我国航天产业建立和完善市场运行机制的对策建议。     

A quantitative analysis of trade policy responses to higher world agricultural commodity prices

The worldwide spike in prices of agricultural commodities in 2007–2008 elevated food security and social stability issues to the forefront, especially in many food-deficit countries. In order to mitigate the global food commodity price pressure on domestic markets, several major exporting and importing countries, mostly developing economies, adopted trade policy changes such as export bans (or raising export restrictions) or reducing import tariffs during the same period. This paper estimates the potential impacts of these policies on the world prices and trade of major agricultural commodities using a set of multi-country, multi-commodity, and partial-equilibrium models. Our findings suggest that over all, the trade policy responses in various countries increased the prices of all agricultural commodities, although the impact on the total net trade varies by commodity. The simulation results show that the overall impact of trade policy distortions on the world rice price is most significant at 24%, followed by wheat (14%) and barley (9%). In general, the poorer food-deficit countries/regions, which have limited power to manipulate their trade policies, experienced higher price increases compared to those major trading countries that adopted policy interventions. Also, the developing countries that are net importers which did not implement trade policy interventions experienced significant welfare losses resulting from interventions implemented by other major trading countries.     

Fruit and vegetable access to EU markets: Dissecting tariffs faced by Mediterranean countries

This paper analyzes the access of Eastern and Southern Mediterranean countries to the EU fruit and vegetables market and provides a measure of the level of preferences from which they benefit. To take into account the complexity of EU protection in the F&V sector, in particular the seasonality of protection and the Entry Price System, we conducted our analysis at a very disaggregated level (eight digits of the nomenclature, monthly data). We showed that, on average, Mediterranean countries do have significant preferences compared to other countries exporting to the EU. However, the magnitude of the preferences differs among countries; Morocco has the highest preference, while Syria and Israel have the lowest. We simulated a multilateral reduction in the MFN tariffs (as planned in the Doha Round) and showed that this would reduce the heterogeneity within the zone by more strongly eroding the preferences of the most advantaged countries. The classification of Entry Price products as sensitive products would either benefit or have no effect on most Mediterranean countries.     

反行政性垄断与促进竞争政策研究新进展——“转轨经济中的反行政性垄断与促进竞争政策”国际研讨会观点综述

行政性垄断由于造成资源配置扭曲、社会福利损失、收入分配不均以及地方保护和区域市场分割等问题而日益成为社会各界关注的焦点。2007年11月19日在山东大学召开的“转轨经济中的反行政性垄断与促进竞争政策”国际研讨会对反行政性垄断的理论与政策问题进行了集中交流与探讨。本文介绍了与会专家学者对于该问题的主要学术观点．综述了反行政性垄断研究的新进展以及该领域亟待解决的理论和实践问题。     

Strategic Responses to Regulatory Policies: What Lessons Can Be Learned from the U.K. Contract Gas Market?

The gas industry was first privatisedin 1986, and the regulator, Ofgas, identified thecontract gas market as a possibility for introducinginitial competition into the industry. Nevertheless,competing shippers were slow in entering the market.Subsequently, Ofgas introduced a series ofpro-competitive policies. It, however, invoked aseries of strategic behaviour by the incumbentshipper, British Gas. The effectiveness of thesemeasures are analysed here with respect to theevolving competitive process. The issues it raised,especially when formulating future regulatory policiesand theories, are also considered.     

Competition in Grocery Retailing: The Impact of a New Strategic Group on BLS Price Increases

Metropolitan areas with a significant presence of warehouse stores had lower retail food price increases during 1977 to 1992 than did areas with no warehouse stores. The negative impact occurred largely during the first half of the 15-year period. Strategic learning appears to have led to a different response from incumbent supermarkets during 1985–1992. Change in prices was positively related to change in concentration and negatively related to entry.     

中国输欧纺织品服装结构分析

自2005年起,中国与欧盟在纺织品服装贸易问题上摩擦不断。本文通过计算中国和欧盟15国的贸易竞争力指数,分析了中国输欧纺织品服装结构中的劳动密集型和粗加工特征,并指出了这种出口结构存在的问题,最后给出了相应的对策建议。     

Market Share Inequality,the Number of Competitors,and the HHI: An Examination of Bank Pricing

This paper seeks to determine whether the Herfindahl--Hirschman index (HHI) adequately accounts for the roles of market share inequality and the number of competitors in explaining bank deposit and loan rates. This is been done by estimating deposit-rate and loan-rate equations in which the HHI is decomposed into components that reflect share inequality and number of competitors and, alternatively, by adding measures of share inequality and the number of competitors as additional explanatory variables. Results are inconclusive in the case of deposit rates but suggest that the HHI does not give sufficient weight to the number of competitors in explaining loan rates.     

美国现行反垄断法对软件产业的适用性探析--以搭售和掠夺性定价为例

本文对软件产业的搭售与掠夺性定价行为进行了法律和经济分析。在美国现行的反垄断法体系中，这是属于典型的滥用市场势力的两种行为。但在软件产业却不能凭借传统标准简单地把这两种行为归结为垄断行为，而应从产业本身的特点和竞争环境出发谨慎对待。如一味运用美国现行的反垄断法惩罚软件产业正当的竞争行为，只会从更大程度上抑制竞争，损害消费者福利。在网络经济条件下，反垄断法应该顺应经济和技术的     

Diversification and Economic Performance: An Empirical Assessment of Chinese Firms

Integrating the impact of both resource and institutional factors and taking into consideration potential agency problems, this study proposes to investigate the joint effect of both related and unrelated diversification strategies on firm performance in an emerging economy setting and to assess empirically the hypothesized relationship using Chinese firms. The empirical results support the basic contention that both resource building and utilization through concentration and related diversification and institutional environmental management through unrelated diversification are important for firm performance in emerging economies but they must be considered together. This paper concludes with a discussion of its contributions, practical implications, and directions for future research.     

Provision of Internet privacy and market conditions: An empirical analysis

Importing insights from an industrial organization model, this study analyzes the relationship between the provision of Internet privacy protection and market conditions. A composite sample of heavily trafficked and randomly selected sites was examined as to their level of privacy protection, as indicated by interface features of Notice and Choice. The analyses showed the limited supply of such functionalities by most websites, far short of the industry's standard of conduct. Logistic regressions demonstrated that domain and website attributes, indicative of market conditions, had minimal impact on the likelihood of high privacy provision. The findings shed critical lights on the market-based FTC Internet privacy principle that has been placed since 1998 and indicate the need for a new set of interface-focused policy proposals in domain-context specific regulations.     

Getting consumers to eat more whole-grains: The role of policy, information, and food manufacturers

The 2005 Dietary Guidelines were unique because they offered quantitative recommendations for consumption of whole-grains. This case study examines the hypothesis that the changed recommendations were responsible for the recent increase in retail sales and consumption of whole-grain food products. We find that release of the Dietary Guidelines and related media attention did increase availability and sales of whole-grain foods. A large impact on consumption occurred through reformulation of existing products, induced by competition among food suppliers. This study reveals the key role product reformulation plays in inter-firm competition and in realization of dietary changes recommended by public policy.     

Different paths to universal access: The impact of policy and regulation on broadband diffusion in the developed and developing worlds

The authors examine the broadband digital divide by analyzing the impact of policy and regulation on broadband Internet diffusion. Their multiple regression analysis shows factors that determine broadband diffusion in technologically developed countries do not necessarily have the same impact in less developed countries. They show that in technologically developed countries, there is greater broadband diffusion in countries that make a higher financial investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs), have effective governing practices at the national level, have higher levels of education, and are more urban. In technologically developing nations, a competitive telecommunications sector and higher investment in ICTs lead to greater broadband diffusion, with investment having an even larger impact in the developing world than in the developed world. In addition, stronger democratic political institutions, higher levels of national income and lower levels of income inequality increase diffusion, but the presence of a national telecommunications regulatory authority has a negative impact. These results suggest that the path to widespread availability and use of broadband requires different strategies depending on a nation's level of technological development.     

Assessment for Learning: Using Solo Taxonomy to Measure Design Performance of Design & Technology Students

One objective of Design & Technology (D&T) is to enable students to be inventive in designing practical solutions to problems. D&T is viewed as being successful when students can demonstrate the ability to recognize problems, undertake inquiries by themselves, and contribute ideas accordingly. This article will discuss a study which investigated an alternative approach to assessing students’ design performances. In the study, a new item format was designed and a new criterion framework of assessment based on Biggs’ SOLO Taxonomy was developed. The evidence from this study indicates strong face validity for the new approach which maps closely to the goals and purposes of learning D&T. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.