Tobacco and alcohol: complements or substitutes?

The question of whether alcohol and tobacco are consumed as complements or substitutes is crucial for determining the side-effects of anti-smoking policies. Numerous papers have empirically addressed this issue by estimating demand systems for alcohol and tobacco, and subsequently calculating cross-price effects. However, this traditional approach is often seriously hampered by insufficient price variation observed in survey data. We, therefore, suggest an alternative instrumental variables approach that statistically mimics an experimental study and does not rely on prices as explanatory variables. This approach is applied by means of German survey data. Our estimation results suggest that a reduction in tobacco consumption results in a moderate reduction in alcohol consumption. It is demonstrated that this implies that alcohol and tobacco are complements. Hence, we conclude that successful anti-smoking policies will not result in the unintended side-effect of an increased (ab)use of alcohol.     

International Spillovers of Output Growth and Output Growth Volatility: Evidence from the G7

This paper examines the transmission of GDP growth and GDP growth volatility among the G7 countries over the period 1960Q1 – 2010Q4, using a multivariate GARCH model and volatility impulse response functions (VIRFs) to identify the source, magnitude and the duration of volatility spillovers. Results indicate the presence of positive own-country GDP growth spillovers in each country and cross-country GDP growth spillovers among most of the G7 countries. In addition, the large number of significant own-country output growth volatility spillovers and cross-country output growth volatility spillovers indicates that output growth shocks in most of the G7 countries affect output growth volatility in the other remaining countries. An additional finding is that the duration of output growth volatility spillovers has increased over time from some seven quarters in the 1970s to some ten quarters during the recent crisis, which is likely to be due to the increased integration of goods and financial markets.     

Has Austria’s Accession to the EU Triggered an Increase in Competition? A Sectoral Markup Study

We estimate the pro-competitive effects of Austrias participation in the Single Market after its European Union (EU) accession in 1995 in terms of firms market power as measured by the Lerner index, using a sample of 46 industries and 7 industry groups, covering the period 1978–2001. In the framework of the markup estimation method suggested by Roeger (1995), we test for both an instantaneous structural break between 1993 and 1998 and also estimate logistic smooth transition models to take up the proposition that the regime shift is likely to have occurred gradually rather than as a big bang. In sum, the results provide no reason for being euphoric: Pronounced markup reductions were only found in three industry groups (mining and quarrying, wholesale and retail trade; financial services and real estate). At the more disaggregate level, the picture is mixed: Both increases and reductions in market power have been found.     

Firm Growth,European Industry Dynamics and Domestic Business Cycles

Based on the empirical firm growth literature and on heterogeneous (microeconomic) adjustment models, this paper empirically investigates the impact of European industry fluctuations and domestic business cycles on the growth performance of European firms. Since the implementation of the Single Market Program the 27 EU member states share a common market. Accordingly, the European industry business cycle is expected to become a more influential predictor of European firms’ behavior at the expense of domestic fluctuations. Empirically, the results of a two‐part model for a sample of European manufacturing firms reject this hypothesis. In addition, exporting firms and subsidiaries of multinational enterprises constitute the most stable firm cohort throughout the observed business cycle.     

Estimating the trade and welfare effects of Brexit: A panel data structural gravity model

This paper proposes a new panel data structural gravity approach for estimating the trade and welfare effects of Brexit. Assuming different counterfactual post‐Brexit scenarios, our main findings suggest that the UK's exports of goods to the EU are likely to decline within a range between 7.2% and 45.7% six years after Brexit has taken place. For the UK, the negative trade effects are only partially offset by an increase in domestic trade and trade with third countries, inducing a decline in the UK's real income of between 0.3% and 5.7%. The estimated welfare effects for the EU are not different from zero, but some members like Ireland are expected to also experience welfare losses.     

Comment

In his comment on Dymski and Pollin the author focuses on the relevant characteristics in the development of OECD countries as well as differences between the performance of North American and European economies in recent years. Emphasis is put on output and productivity growth and employment and real wage experiences. The paper discusses Verdoorn' law and the question of how real phenomena are linked to monetary ones, in particular the financial constraints on full employment policies.     

Strategic Trade Policy in the Presence of Network Effects

The paper analyzes strategic trade policy for national and international network effect goods. While tariffs are very effective in securing the domestic producer's sales in case of network effects, our results suggest that strategic trade policy does not pay from a welfare perspective. Another interesting result is the possibility of negative tariffs in equilibrium.     

Supply Disruptions and Regional Price Effects in a Spatial Oligopoly—An Application to the Global Gas Market

Supply shocks in the global gas market may affect countries differently, as the market is regionally interlinked but not perfectly integrated. Additionally, high supply‐side concentration may expose countries to market power in different ways. To evaluate the strategic position of importing countries with regard to gas supplies, we disentangle the import price into different components and characterize each component as price increasing or price decreasing. Because of the complexity of the interrelations in the global gas market, we use an equilibrium model programmed as a mixed complementarity problem (MCP) and simulate the blockage of liquefied natural gas (LNG) flows through the Strait of Hormuz. This enables us to account for the oligopolistic nature and the asymmetry of the gas supply. We find that Japan faces the most severe price increases, as the Japanese gas demand completely relies on LNG supply. In contrast, European countries such as the UK benefit from good interconnection to the continental pipeline system and domestic price taking production, both of which help to mitigate an increase in physical costs of supply as well as in the exercise of market power.