Exploring additional determinants of fixed broadband adoption: policy implications for narrowing the broadband demand gap

Using data from the survey ‘Aspects of daily life’ conducted on Italian individuals in 2014 by the Italian Institute of Statistics, we propose new evidence on the factors that encourage the adoption of fixed broadband, a topic relevant for the reduction of the so-called broadband demand gap. We estimate a probit model through the two-step Heckman procedure for the selection bias, and find that, besides the already studied socio-demographic determinants, Internet-capable devices other than personal computers, as well as recreational (essentially video contents) and cloud-related uses of the Internet, have a relevant positive role. Policies aimed at fostering the diffusion of smart homes and more generally of the Internet of things at the residential level might be very effective in favouring fixed broadband adoption, provided that the network be neutral, not discriminating between data based on their contents and/or the destination device, and that possible foreclosing behaviours in the access to (premium) contents be properly and promptly addressed.     

Targeting educational initiatives

The nursing education department of a large teaching hospital faced the challenge of prioritizing the delivery of staff education programs after reductions in personnel and resources. Patient population data were used to guide curricula development. Results included improved clinical practice in a cost-effective manner.     

Northern Lights,Canada's version of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross‐Border Insolvency

Statute of Canada Chapter 47, when it is proclaimed in force, will largely adopt the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross‐border Insolvency. The current and proposed cross‐border provisions could be considered Canada's “Northern Lights”, evolving constantly, but aligning with the objectives and scope of the UNCITRAL Model Law. While Chapter 47 is a modified version of the Model Law, it continues Canada's regime as one of modified universalism, with a strong commitment to comity and coordination. There are likely to be contests for control over the scope of foreign proceedings, although arguably, no more so than under the language of the Model Law. The most critical issues to resolve in the short term are definitions of COMI where corporate groups are involved, and the issue of the scope and extent of possible concurrent main proceedings, both areas left to the discretion of the courts in their interpretation of the legislation's domestic, as well as cross‐border, provisions. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tripping the Light Fantastic: A Comparative Analysis of the European Commission's Proposals for New and Interim Financing of Insolvent Businesses

The European Commission published a Draft Directive in November 2016, with the aim of ensuring that all Member States have in place an effective mechanism for dealing with viable, but financially distressed, businesses. The Draft Directive includes provisions designed to encourage financing for the debtor company, both interim financing to ‘keep the lights on’ for a brief period while the debtor negotiates with its creditors for a resolution to its financial distress, and, where possible, to finance implementation of a restructuring plan, called ‘new financing’ in the Draft Directive. Creating such a financing regime is a complex and difficult issue, as the law's intervention in this area often involves constraints on the rights of existing creditors, requiring that a careful balance is maintained between existing creditors' rights and the rights of the interim financier. This article examines the underlying policy rationale and benefits of having new and interim financing available to financially distressed debtor companies and discusses the risks involved. It examines the EU Commission's proposals in light of the experience of jurisdictions that have already tackled these issues, notably the USA and Canada, or have developed a market‐based solution to this problem, such as the UK. While the European Commission's wish to include such measures in its restructuring proposals is laudable, the measures as drafted raise concerns, particularly regarding risks associated with priority for the grantors of such finance. The authors suggest that there are four fundamental aspects of such financing on which the Directive could give guidance to Member States, namely, effective notice to pre‐filing creditors, thresholds for the debtor to qualify, a menu of relevant criteria to balance benefit and prejudice, and a role for the court in resolving disputes, ensuring fairness to stakeholders, and serving as an accountability check on interim financing arrangements, all aimed at maintaining the integrity of the insolvency process. Copyright © 2018 INSOL International and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Economics at the FTC: The Google-DoubleClick Merger,Resale Price Maintenance,Mortgage Disclosures,and Credit Scoring in Auto Insurance

Economics at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) supports both the competition and consumer protection missions of the agency. In this year’s essay we discuss competition activity with a summary of our work on the Google-DoubleClick merger and recent activity on resale price maintenance, an area in which FTC economists had done significant prior research. On the consumer policy front, we discuss our study of ways to improve mortgage disclosures to facilitate consumer shopping and competition. Finally, we discuss our study of the effects of credit scoring on prices paid for auto insurance with a focus on the effects of scores on different racial and ethnic groups.     

A Model of Investment under Uncertainty: Modern Irrigation Technology and Emerging Markets in Water

This article develops a stochastic dynamic model of irrigation technology adoption. It predicts that farms will not invest in modern technologies unless the expected present value of investment exceeds the cost by a potentially large hurdle rate. The article also demonstrates that, contrary to common belief, water markets can delay adoption. The introduction of a market should induce farms with abundant (scarce) water supplies to adopt earlier (later) than they would otherwise. This article was motivated by evidence that, contrary to NPV predictions, farms wait until random events such as drought drive returns significantly above costs before investing in modern irrigation technologies.     

Domestic regulation,import penetration and firm-level productivity growth

This paper shows that the impact of import penetration on firms’ productivity growth depends on firms’ distance to the efficiency frontier and on product market regulation. Using firm-level data for a substantial number of OECD countries from the late 1990s to late 2000s, the analysis reveals nonlinear effects of both sectoral import penetration and de jure product market regulation measures, depending on firms’ positions along the global distribution of productivity. Close to the technology frontier, import penetration has a strongly positive effect on firm-level productivity growth, with less stringent domestic regulation enhancing this effect substantially. However, far from the frontier, the effect of import penetration on firm-level productivity growth is much smaller and often not significant. Its interaction with domestic regulation generally has no statistically significant effect either. The heterogeneous effects of import penetration and domestic product market regulation on firm-level productivity growth are consistent with a neo-Schumpeterian view of trade and regulation.     

Seasonality and the valuation of commodity options

Price movements in many commodity markets exhibit significant seasonal patterns. However, given an observed futures price, a deterministic seasonal component at the price level is not relevant for the pricing of commodity options. In contrast, this is not true for the seasonal pattern observed in the volatility of the commodity price. Analyzing an extensive sample of soybean, corn, heating oil and natural gas options, we find that seasonality in volatility is an important aspect to consider when valuing these contracts. The inclusion of an appropriate seasonality adjustment significantly reduces pricing errors in these markets and yields more improvement in valuation accuracy than increasing the number of stochastic factors.