The “Services” Explanation for Resale Price Maintenance: Deleterious Results Missed in the Economics Literature and in Legal Decisions

Policy discussions and a U.S. Supreme Court decision interpret retailer services induced by retail price maintenance (RPM) as enhancing consumer surplus (CS) and welfare enhancing, marginalizing dissenting opinions that use similar models but with different parameters. However, if presales services stimulate demand by providing information about a product's value, they need not raise postsale value in use. Inframarginal consumers' presales perceived value may increase, but their postsale value may be unchanged, so their supposed CS gains are ephemeral, and their actual surplus falls proportional to price increase. We show that, even adding in gains to marginal consumers, effects on CS are far more negative than conceived of in this literature. Consequently, in a rule‐of‐reason antitrust environment, if RPM is challenged without alleging collusion or exclusion, presales demand‐inducing information provision is a flimsy defense if CS is the standard and not always convincing if total surplus is the standard.     

Optimal annuitization, uncertain survival probabilities, and maxmin preferences

We consider a life-cycle model with bequest motives, and assume that the individual does not know his/her survival probability and has maxmin utility preferences; we show that it is optimal not to annuitize but to purchase pure life insurance policies instead.     

Gender implications of current social security reforms

This paper examines some current reforms to social security benefits / tax credits and changes to employment provisions from a gender perspective. It analyses tensions between the trend towards ‘individualisation’ and growing emphasis on the couple/household as a policy focus. New tax credits change the distribution of resources within many couples. Incentives to work for some second earners should improve; but extending in‐work subsidies to childless couples raises questions. Payment of child tax credit to the ‘main carer’ has been welcomed, though the implications of joint ownership of tax credits are unclear, and joint assessment will be extended. Many claimants' partners can now access employment services. However, this is aimed at reducing the number of workless households rather than expanding individuals' opportunities. Joint claims for jobseeker's allowance, and work‐focused interviews, involve increased responsibilities for partners but no right of access to individual income. A more consistent critical analysis of reform from a gender perspective is required.     

Economics of Agglomeration

We address the fundamental question arising in geographical economics: why do economic activities agglomerate in a small number of places? The main reasons for the formation of economic clusters involving firms and/or households are analyzed: (i) externalities under perfect competition; (ii) increasing returns under monopolistic competition; and (iii) spatial competition under strategic interaction. We review what has been accomplished in these three domains and identify a few general principles governing the organization of economic space. A few alternative, new approaches are also proposed.J. Japan. Int. Econ.,December 1996,10(4), pp. 339–378. Kyoto University and University of Pennsylvania; and CORE, Université Catholique de Louvain and CERAS–ENPC (URA 2036, CNRS).     

On existence and stability of spatial equilibria and steady-states

This note discusses the existence and stability of two equilibrium concepts for a spatial economy in which the utility of an agent depends on the overall distribution of agents over space.     

COOPÉRATIVES ET GESTION COMMUNALE EN ÉLEVAGE: Un aperçu cornparatif entre pays en voie de développement anglophones et francophones

RESUME * : La gestion communale et les coopératives en élevage difèrent entre pays anglophnes et francophones. Les origines de ces différences remontent aux poliliques coloniales. Les pays francophones ont misé surl'amélioration des systèmes traditionnels existant, les pays anglophones sur l'installation de colons transférant des systèmes importés et lapromotion d'élites locales. Ilen résulte une tendance forte à la privatisation du foncier en zone anglophone qui s'oppose à la recherche d'une gestion comanunale de l'espace en pays francophone; aux initiatives des entrepreneurs anglophones népondent des programmes francophones de structuration du milieu éleveur. Onpeut encore souligner que les coopératives des PVD sont communément différentes de celles des pays industrialisés, notammentpar un moindre fonctionnement démocratique et une plus grande implication étatique .     

Internet Tool Use and Virtual Co-Creation in the Brazilian Construction Industry: Organizational Practices and Consumers' Personal Values

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the use of Internet tools and virtual co-creation initiatives of firms ranked among the top 100 in the Brazilian building industry. The research was based on observation of the companies' websites and of 200 posts written by participants in a collaborative building project. Websites were observed for the way online interaction tools were aligned to their declared goals. Posts were analyzed using discourse analysis and coded on the basis of the list of values. Results show that only three companies use online tools for the purpose of co-creation and that customer enjoyment is the primary driver of co-creation.