Partial Privatization,Foreign Competition,and Optimum Tariff*

Using a simple international mixed oligopoly model with one public and one or more foreign firms, this paper examines the effect of partial privatization or foreign competition on optimum tariffs and finds that foreign competition lowers the optimal tariff rate but partial privatization raises it. This result implies that trade liberalization is welfare improving if a country opens up its economy by allowing foreign competition. However, the liberalization policy is not desirable when the country only partially or completely privatizes its publicly‐owned enterprises.     

COMMENT ON NAVIGATING REFORMS: LESSONS FROM INDIA, THE 2008 WINCOTT LECTURE, GIVEN BY ARUN SHOURIE

Economic growth in India has been impressive in recent years. However, development has largely by-passed agriculture and labour-intensive industry, the sectors with the most potential to drive up living standards in the long term. Despite welcome recent efforts at reform, large parts of the Indian economy continue to be hindered by poor governance and over-regulation.     

Trade diversion,trade creation and factor market imperfections

Zusammenfassung Handelsumlenkung, Handelsschaffung und Unvollkommenheiten der Faktorm?rkte. — Bekanntlich werden Verzerrungen der Faktorm?rkte nicht nur durch die Lohnunterschiede zwischen den Industriezweigen verursacht, sondern auch dadurch, daΒ es an Faktormobilit?t zwischen den Industrien und an Faktorpreisflexibilit?t fehlt. Welche Wohlfahrtsimplikationen die Verzerrungen der zuletzt erw?hnten Art für die regionale Integration haben, ist aber bisher im groΒen und ganzen unerforscht geblieben. Deshalb ist es das Hauptziel dieses Aufsatzes, die Theorie der Zollunion im Lichte von Faktorimmobilit?t und/oder Faktorpreisrigidit?t zu überprüfen. Es wird gezeigt, daΒ die günstigen oder ungünstigen Auswirkungen auf die Wohlfahrt des Inlands nicht nur davon abh?ngen, welcher Art die Verzerrungen der Faktorm?rkte sind und wie sich diese auf die auΒenhandelswichtigen Industrien konzentrieren, sondern auch davon, welche Typen der Handelsumlenkung und Handelsschaffung vorliegen.

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Résumé La détournement de commerce, la création de commerce et les imperfections des marchés de facteur. — II est bien connu que les distorsions sur le marché des facteurs ne dérivent pas seulement des différences salariales interindustrielles, mais aussi de l’immobilité des facteurs et de l’inflexibilité des prix de facteur. Les implications de bien-être du dernier type de distorsion pour l’intégration régionale ont été généralement inexplorées même jusqu’aujourd’hui. C’est pourquoi le but principal de cet article est d’examiner la théorie de l’union douanière sous les aspects de l’immobilité des facteurs et/ou de la rigidité des prix de facteur. L’auteur démontre que les effets favorables ou adverses sur le bien-être social du pays d’origine ne dépendent pas seulement du type des distorsions sur le marché des facteurs et leur concentration dans l’industrie d’exportation et dans les industries en compétition avec les importations, mais aussi du type de détournement et de création de commerce.

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Resumen Desviaci?n de comercio, creacion de comercio e imperfecciones en el mercado de factores. — Es bien conocido, que las distorsiones en el mercado de factores provienen no solo de una diferencial entre los salarios interindustriales, sino que también de la inmovilidad interindustrial y la inflexibilidad de precios de los factores. Las implicaciones de bienestar del ultimo tipo de distorsiones para la integration regional han quedado hasta ahora prácticamente inexploradas. Por lo tanto, el objetivo principal de este trabajo es examinar la teoria de uniones aduaneras bajo la luz de la inmovilidad y/o rigidez de precios de los factores. Se demuestra que los efectos favorables o adversos sobre el bienestar social del pals de referenda dependen no solamente del tipo de distorsiones del mercado de factores y su concentration en la industria de bienes exportables e importables, sino que también en los tipos de creation o desviación de comercio.

     

Problems experienced by engineers with environmental product development projects

The environment industry has grown rapidly over the last decade. An increasing number of busines organizations are developing innovative products and processes which have neen generated by environmental concerns, increasing legislation for environmental protection and the regulation of industry's environmental impacts. There has been some research on barries to innovation and the problems affecting innovative product development in companies, but little ofthis has been applied to innovations developed for environmental protection, especially in the small firm. This paper provides empirical infomation on the problm experienced by engineers developing innovahe products and processes for environmental protection. A sample of 33 engineers, who were intmested in the competition The Environment Award for Engineers: replied to a postal questionnaire about the problas which thy had experienced in their environmental projects This is a competihon organized by the Engineering Council and sponsored by British Gas. The main aim the research was to explore the problems experienced by engineers during the developmat of environmental projects and in particular the different problems experienced by the engineers who were business owner-mangers and those who were employee engineers. The results show that the most jequent& experienced and most important problas are those concerned with securing financial backing and establishing the technical viability of the new product. Statistically significant differences were found between the most important problem expaaenced by employee engineers and business owner-mangers.     

Creating integrated performance systems: the business of the future

Organized around the concept of integrated performance system, suppliers will not sell physical technologies. They will sell the output of physical technologies. They will sell the output of physical systems. Whether that service is meals or heating and cooling, the supplier will have strong incentives to provide the most efficient and effective technological base in order to optimize performance. Integrated performance systems are envolving under a variety of sponsorships. They offer great business opportunities, stimulate technical innovation, increase efficiency in use of energy and resources, and provide customers and customers with much sought-after, high quality, reliable choices.     

Potential Beneficiaries from Reverse Mortgage Products for Elderly Homeowners: An Analysis of American Housing Survey Data

A variety of reverse mortgage loan programs have been available to elderly households for over a decade. The number of unrestricted reverse mortgage loans issued by the private sector has been quite small. About 12,000 loans have been issued through mid-1992. Some researchers take this to mean that the size of the potential market for reverse mortgages is also quite small. Other researchers claim that current low levels of activity reflect supply and demand problems, but that the potential market is in fact quite large. This paper uses American Housing Survey (AHS) data to estimate the potential size of the market for unrestricted reverse mortgages. The 1989 national AHS shows that there are over twelve million elderly homeowners (age 62 and over) who own their homes free and clear. Depending on their income, age and the level of home equity, the group of households most likely to benefit from reverse annuity mortgages is considerably smaller. As one approach to defining a lower bound of the estimate of potential beneficiaries from reverse mortgages, we count the number of homeowners in a prime group consisting of the older elderly, aged 70 or above, with an annual income of $30,000 or less, with home equity between $100,000 and $200,000, who have lived in their homes for over ten years. We estimate that there are about 800,000 elderly households in this prime group. For such households, reverse mortgage payments could represent a substantial percentage increase in income; other definitions of target groups can also be explored using the tables provided. The paper uses the 1985 through 1988 AHS Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area (SMSA) surveys to identify areas that have a large number of elderly homeowners in the prime target group, and in which these homeowners represent a large fraction of the elderly homeowner population. These locations are likely targets for introduction of reverse mortgage products because any campaign can be targeted towards a high concentration of likely eligible beneficiaries.     

Alternate scenario planning

Although a number of organizations are attempting to add flexibility to their planning efforts by using Alternate Scenario Planning techniques, formal methodologies for preparing appropriate scenario sets are only now being developed. One 12-step scenario set generation technique is described in this article, and a particular application of the technique by a government-industry-university team is discussed.     

Standards across borders: crossborder diffusion of the arm's length standard in North America

The arm's length standard is used by corporate income tax authorities to price international intracorporate transactions and allocate intracorporate income and expenses of multinational enterprises. In this paper, we examine the socio-historical evolution of transfer pricing regulation in North America. We develop a model of crossborder diffusion of standards, using institutional theory and the logic of embeddedness, that focuses on three components of crossborder diffusion: timing, motivation and form. Our model is then applied to the evolution and diffusion of the arm's length standard within North America from 1917 to the present.