The impact of different fibre access network technologies on cost,competition and welfare

Using a novel approach to the evaluation of new network technologies that combines an engineering cost model with a differentiated multi-player oligopoly model with wholesale access regulation this article evaluates the choice among different Fibre-to-the-Home (FTTH) architectures. The cost modelling relies upon an engineering bottom-up approach that feeds into a competition model. For addressing competition the pyramid model was chosen, which is an extension of the Hotelling model to multiple firms/services. The paper solves for price setting Nash equilibria between an incumbent, wholesale-access-based entrants and cable as an additional fully integrated network competitor. Welfare tradeoffs are highlighted with respect to cost differences and QoS differences between the various FTTH architectures and between the modes of regulation. According to the analysis architectures that can be unbundled (and that allow for greater speeds) outperform, from a social welfare perspective, architectures that (realistically) allow only for bitstream access.     

Benford's Law as an Indicator of Fraud in Economics

Abstract. Contrary to intuition, first digits of randomly selected data are not uniformly distributed but follow a logarithmically declining pattern, known as Benford's law. This law is increasingly used as a 'doping check' for detecting fraudulent data in business and administration. Benford's law also applies to regression coefficients and standard errors in empirical economics. This article reviews Benford's law and examines its potential as an indicator of fraud in economic research. Evidence from a sample of recently published articles shows that a surprisingly large proportion of first digits, but not of second digits, contradicts Benford's law.     

Regional concentration in the United States and Europe: Who follows whom?

Regional Concentration in the United States and Europe: Who Follows Whom? — This paper investigates differences in the regional concentration of manufacturing in the United States and in Europe. We use a new data set (value added and employment, comparable number of regions in the United States and Europe, manufacturing disaggregated into 10 sectors, period 1987–1995/98). The main result is that the level of regional concentration is indeed higher in the United States, although the difference is much less than suggested by past studies, which relied on employment figures. Regional concentration has been declining over time, faster in the United States thus converging to the lower European level from above. In Europe, this tendency has been specifically evident since the installment of the Single Market Program.     

Zur rationalitÄtsprüfung der inflationsprognosen der arbeitsgemeinschaft deutscher wirtschaftswissenschaftlicher forschungsinstitute

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