NESTING VERTICAL AND HORIZONTAL DIFFERENTIATION IN TWO‐SIDED MARKETS

We merge the two‐sided markets duopoly model of Armstrong (2006) with the nested vertical and horizontal differentiation model of Gabszewicz and Wauthy (2012), which consists of a linear city with different consumer densities on the left and on the right side of the city. In equilibrium, the high‐quality platform sells at a higher price and captures a greater market share than the low‐quality platform, despite the indifferent consumer being closer to the high‐quality platform. The difference between market shares is lower than socially optimal. A perturbation that introduces a negligible difference between the consumer density on the left and on the right side of the city may disrupt existence of equilibrium in the model of Armstrong (2006).     

Demand for locally provided public services within the median voter's framework: the case of the Brazilian municipalities

In this paper we estimated the demand for local public spending for the Brazilian municipalities within a median voter's framework. The rationale for applying that framework came from the fact that in federal systems voters’ preferences are more likely to be reflected at the local level as the consumers of public services have a better knowledge of the benefits and costs of the local public expenditures. Results obtained are consistent with the theoretical background thus suggesting that this hypothesis might be useful to describe the demand for local public goods in Brazil. In particular, the use of quantile regression permitted us to investigate the impacts of the conditioning variables on local public expenses across different expenditures classes thus allowing for heterogeneity across municipalities. Our results also suggest that the impact of the city size on the quality of club goods shows crowding effects as γ is between zero and one. However, in the estimated models, marginal congestion slightly decreases with expenditure. This is a rather surprising result as one is tempted to conclude that the congestion effect should be higher on big cities. Yet, a more careful look shows the drawbacks of such an interpretation. The indivisibilities preclude the provision of certain services in small towns, concentrating their provision on larger cities. Hence, the higher expenditures of those big cities reflect not only a crowding cost but also the fact that these towns offer a wide range of services when compared to the small ones.     

Insights into carsharing demand dynamics: Outputs of an agent-based model application to Lisbon,Portugal

Two important claims for carsharing systems are their increased flexibility and potential contribution to reducing transport externalities such as pollution. Carsharing typically involves a fleet of vehicles in stations around a city that clients may use on an hourly-payment basis. Classical round-trip systems address a niche market of shopping and errand trips. However, a growing market is now arising providing one-way trips to clients. Great uncertainty remains on the economic viability of this type of carsharing given the complex relation between supply and demand, and how this may influence the level of service provided. Realistic modeling tools that include both supply and demand characterization and allow testing several carsharing operational parameters are scarce. In this sense, a detailed agent-based model was developed to simulate one-way carsharing systems. The simulation incorporates a stochastic demand model discretized in time and space and a detailed environment characterization with realistic travel times. The operation includes maintenance operations, relocations and reservations. The model was applied to the case-study city of Lisbon. Our results show that comparing to other modes, carsharing performs worse than private cars both in terms of time and cost. Nevertheless, it clearly outperforms taxis in terms of cost, and outperforms buses, metro and walking in terms of travel time. The competitiveness of carsharing is highly determined by trip length, becoming more competitive than other modes (travel-time wise) as trips become longer. The operational policies as car-fleet relocation and car reservation showed significant effects in enhancing profit while preserving good customers' satisfaction.     

Profit rate in the US, 1949–2007: a Markov switching assessment

The article investigates the growth in the general profit rate in the US during the 1949–2007 period with a Markov switching model. The evidence is consistent with a long swing with means displaying opposite signs under the two regimes (increasing or declining) and high degree of persistence within each regime. The results for this nonlinear approach reinforce previous empirical evidence that does not provide support for a systematic and declining tendency in profit rate as advanced in the Marxian literature.     

The experience of technological collaborations by MERCOSUR companies

This paper examines some of the experiences in information and knowledge sharing involving MERCOSUR firm. It finds that while technological collaborations by MERCOSUR firms are relatively few, located in low-tech sectors and taking place in an environment of little innovation, they are motivated by the need to ‘fuse’ their own knowledge with that of partner or to improve available information. Modes of governance vary accordingly, with equity or contractual forms being used for new developments and informal agreements for improvements. Govmments and business associations can be important facilitators of technological collaborations. The analysis of technological collaborations suggested that the better prepared a corporation entered an agreement the more successful it was likely to be. It also pointed out that where interactions were intense, well intended and transparent, included personnel exchanges, were properly assessed and involved receptive participants, learning progressed smoothly and partners were satisfied. Benefits of the collaborations included new patentable and non-patentable products new factories, as well as building trust between partners. Premature termination of some collaborations was the result of financia1 limitations unrelated to the success of the collaboration.     

A narrative exploratory study on the perspectives about physical exercise practise in a sample of Portuguese elderly

Quality & Quantity - The overall prevalence of inactivity among individuals aged 55 or older in Portugal is the highest in Europe therefore it’s important to develop effective strategies...     

The Cognitive-Affective-Conative Model of Destination Image: A Confirmatory Analysis

ABSTRACT

Destination image influences tourist behavior before, during, and after travel, as it is an important instrument which contributes to tourists’ loyalty. Although Gartner (1993 Gartner, W. 1993. “Image formation process”. In Communication and channel systems in tourism marketing, Edited by: Uysal, M. and Fesenmaier, D. 191–215. New York, NY: The Haworth Press.  [Google Scholar]) advocates that the cognitive, affective, and conative dimensions of destination image are hierarchically interrelated, there is no empirical evidence to support the complete model. This study aims to test the hierarchical nature of the relationship between the dimensions of destination image. The results of structural equation modeling confirm Gartner's theoretical model, validating the theory that the influence of the cognitive component on the conative dimension is higher when mediated by the affective component, raising managerial implications.     

Free daily newspapers: too strong incentives to print?

A free daily newspaper distributes news to readers and sells ad-space to advertisers, having private information about its audience. For a given number of distributed copies, depending on the type of audience (favorable or unfavorable), the newspaper may either have a large readership or a small readership. A large readership provides a greater return to advertisers, because ads are visualized by more people. A favorable audience has also the advantage of requiring a lower distribution cost (for a given number of distributed copies), because readers are willing to exert more effort to obtain a copy of the free newspaper and are less likely to reject a copy that is handed to them. We find that when the audience is unfavorable, the number of distributed copies and the price of ad-space coincide with those of the perfect information scenario. In contrast, if the audience is favorable, the newspaper prints extra copies to send a credible signal to the advertisers that the audience is favorable. Overprinting is not necessarily welfare-detrimental since readers benefit from the existence of additional copies.     

Market share instability in Brazilian industry: a dynamic panel data analysis

The paper investigates market share instability in the context of Brazilian industry for the 1986–1998 period. The paper proposes the use of panel data unit root tests to access market share instability for a sample of industrial firms from different sectors and therefore generalizes related time series unit root tests proposed by Gallet and List (2001 Gallet, CA and List, JA. 2001. Market share instability: an application of unit root tests for the cigarette industry. Journal of Economics and Business, 53: 473–80.  ). The results mostly indicate that one cannot reject the hypothesis of market share instability and therefore there exist some degree of market rivalry in the Brazilian case.