Demand, comparative advantage and economic geography in international trade: Evidence from the OECD

Demand, Comparative Advantage and Economic Geography in International Trade: Evidence from the OECD. — This paper examines the influence of demand on the pattern of net trade for 17 OECD countries. It is found that demand differences are important as a cause of international trade. In fact, for the majority of countries, demand factors explain more of the net trade pattern than do factor proportions. The evidence offers some support for the modern geography and trade theories: high domestic demand in an industry leads to a net export for the majority of cases. The evidence is, however, not clear-cut. Moreover, a demand bias in favour of domestic varieties leads to a net export. Here, the evidence is clear-cut.     

A Unifying Pair of Cournot-Nash Equilibrium Existence Results

For games with a measure space of players a tandem pair, consisting of a mixed and a pure Cournot-Nash equilibrium existence result, is presented. Their generality causes them to be completely mutually equivalent. This provides a unifying pair of Cournot-Nash existence results that goes considerably beyond the central result of E. J. Balder (1995, Int. J. Game Theory24, 79-94, Theorem 2.1). The versatility of this pair is demonstrated by the following new applications: (i) unification and generalization of the two equilibrium distribution existence results by K. P. Rath (1996, J. Math. Econ.26, 305-324) for anonymous games, (ii) generalization of the equilibrium existence result of T. Kim and N. C. Yannelis (1997, J. Econ. Theory77, 330-353) for Bayesian differential information games, (iii) inclusion of the Bayesian Nash equilibrium existence results of P. R. Milgrom and R. J. Weber (1985, Math. Oper. Res.10, 619-632) and E. J. Balder (1988, Math. Operations Res.13, 265-276) for games with private information in the sense of J. C. Harsanyi (1967, Manage. Sci.14, 159-182). Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: C72.     

Changing port-city relations at Amsterdam: A new phase at the interface?

In this paper, we investigate whether a new phase in port-city development is emerging. We have done this by analysing the scientific literature on present and future spatial developments of the port of Amsterdam in the Netherlands in terms of the spatial and environmental policies and the viewpoints of port firms. It appears that in the Port of Amsterdam, but also in other ports, the expansion pace of the port area is slowing down, while at the same time the city is expanding in the direction of the port at an increasing speed. In the beginning, this conflict was rather passive, in the sense that the conflict was about how the redevelopment should take place. However, the conflict has evolved further to questioning whether any redevelopment should take place. This implies that a new phase in the development of the port-city interface has emerged.     

Congestion Caused by Speed Differences

This paper investigates road traffic congestion caused by speed differences using both analytical and numerical simulation models. Especially outside peak hours, speed differences are probably one of the most important reasons for congestion. Some main conclusions are that optimal tolls for slow vehicles are higher than those for fast drivers, that the marginal external costs and the optimal tolls for slow drivers are actually decreasing in the equilibrium number of slow drivers, and that “platooning” may become an attractive option especially when the desire for a low speed is caused by a lower value of time.