世界感受中国经济放缓之痛

【美国《华尔街日报》10月21日】中国蓬勃发展的经济正在以快于大多数人所预料的速度冷却，在发达国家遭遇金融危机之际，对于那些希望中国需求有助于保持全球经济平稳增长的人来说，这不啻是当头一棒。     

LONG‐RUN RISING SUPPLY PRICE AND THE NUMÉRAIRE

When a set of industries is kept in long‐run equilibrium, it is never possible to change just one price at a time. But when various (or all) prices are changing, the direction of change of any one price can depend on the numéraire adopted. What does it mean, then, to say that a long‐run supply curve is upward (or downward) sloping? Can this qualitative property be independent of the numéraire in terms of which the product price is being measured? In general, it cannot.     

Skills shortages are not always what they seem: migration and the Irish software industry

This paper argues that the skills shortage in the Irish software industry is socially produced by a range of domestic factors, especially the education and training system. It also contends that immigration reinforces rather than resolves skills shortages.     

Cheating in Contests

Much of the interest in the study of sports from the perspectiveof an economist lies in the empirical application of contestsas efficient mechanisms for eliciting effort. Contestants respondto contest incentives, and these incentives include the incentiveto cheat. This paper discusses different forms of cheating:sabotage, doping, and match fixing. The paper discusses howthese forms of cheating arise and how they can be treated. Inparticular, we look at specific forms of cheating in soccer,baseball, and cricket. In the appendix we develop a simple modelof match fixing.     

Bush v. Gore and the Effect of New Source Review on Power Plant Emissions

New Source Review (NSR) is a Clean Air Act regulation that requires electric utilities to meet emission standards when making modifications to existing power plants. The regulation increases the cost of replacing worn out parts, and limits the firm’s scope of potential capital investments. Such restrictions may lead to greater retirements and lower utilization, adversely affecting profits. Prior to the 2000 presidential election, investors expected Bush to have a narrower interpretation of NSR than Gore. Therefore, we use changes in stock prices to estimate the effect on profits of differences in NSR policy. Our results indicate that investors expected the average boiler to be $38 million more valuable under the Bush administration. Over the boilers’ lifetimes, the additional utilization will have increased emissions by 19 million tons of sulfur dioxide, 5.9 million tons of nitrogen oxides and 980 million tons of carbon dioxide, relative to natural gas generation.      

Defining Markets for Ex Ante Regulation using the Hypothetical Monopoly Test

The EU is gradually systematizing its approach to ex ante regulation (notably with the publication of the recent regulatory framework for Electronic communications). Market definition is viewed as an essential first step in this, with the ‘Hypothetical Monopoly Test’ a useful conceptual tool for use in the assessment. This paper examines the use of this test for market definition when there are several differentiated goods or services under consideration. It sets out an analytic framework, discusses the pros and cons of using the test and illustrates its use in a Telecom context.