Discriminatory tariffs and international negotiations

Recent research has highlighted the efficiency of the MFN principle within the GATT/WTO structure. This paper analyzes the exception made to MFN within Article XXIII that allows discriminatory punishment for deviations from the agreement. We argue that, in the absence of collusion, the MFN exception reduces the severity of punishment and thus lowers the level of cooperation that can be achieved by the agreement. However, discriminatory punishment may still be beneficial as we show that it reduces the problems associated with the potential for renegotiation during the punishment phase. Finally, we argue that our results are also applicable to the question of whether to use trade policy sanctions as a means of enforcing agreements covering domestic policies.     

岛居乌托邦

从西雅图华盛顿湖到悉尼双水湾,再到日本东京湾,世界著名海湾成就了世界财富阶层对滨海生活的梦想。在菲律宾忘忧岛可以让您体验岛居的慢生活;在希腊圣托里尼可以让您体验蓝白之间日落的美妙;在北玛丽亚娜塞班岛可以让您体验天堂的七种颜色;在中国三亚的半山半岛可以让您体验融入度假心情的滨海生活。     

The Really Long-Run Performance of Initial Public Offerings: The Pre-Nasdaq Evidence

Financial economists have intensely debated the performance of IPOs using data after the formation of Nasdaq. This paper sheds light on this controversy by undertaking a large, out‐of‐sample study: We examine the performance for five years after listing of 3,661 U.S. IPOs from 1935 to 1972. The sample displays some underperformance when event‐time buy‐and‐hold abnormal returns are used. The underperformance disappears, however, when cumulative abnormal returns are utilized. A calendar‐time analysis shows that over the entire period, IPOs return as much as the market. The intercepts in CAPM and Fama–French regressions are insignificantly different from zero, suggesting no abnormal performance.     

What factors of early-stage innovative projects are likely to drive projects’ success? A longitudinal analysis of Korean entrepreneurial firms

Previous studies have identified the factors affecting successful technology commercialization as outcomes of R&D projects. However, most of them have used cross-sectional data, whereas there is a dearth of literature using longitudinal data analysis. Longitudinal analysis is essential for investigating the characteristics of early-stage innovative projects due to the inherent time lag between project evaluation and commercialization. Therefore, this study examines the early-stage project characteristics that can be used as meaningful evaluation criteria for predicting success, particularly in technology commercialization. We collected data on the ex-ante evaluation results and ex-post commercialization results of R&D projects pursued by entrepreneurial firms. We then conducted a logistic regression analysis and identified three market-related factors as significant in driving technology commercialization success in the early stages of technology development: market potential, commercialization plan, and market condition.     

Is environmental policy a secondary trade barrier? An empirical analysis

Abstract Should international trade agreements be extended to include negotiations over environmental policy? The answer depends on whether countries distort levels of environmental regulations as a secondary means of providing protection to domestic industries; our results suggest that they do. Previous studies of this relationship have treated the level of environmental regulation as exogenous, and found a negligible correlation between environmental regulation and trade flows. In contrast, we find that, when the level of environmental regulation is modelled as an endogenous variable, its estimated effect on trade flows is significantly higher than previously reported. JEL Classification: F1, F14, F18 Est‐ce que la politique environnementale est une barrière commerciale secondaire? Une analyse empirique Est‐ce que les accords commerciaux internationaux doivent être étendus pour couvrir la politique environnementale? La réponse dépend du degré de distorsion que les pays introduisent dans leur politique environnementale pour protéger leurs industries nationales. Nos résultats suggèrent que cet impact est important. Des études antérieures de cette relation ont traité la politique environnementale comme exogène, et ont montré qu’il existe une co‐relation négligeable entre politique environnementale et flux commerciaux. Au contraire, nous révélons que, quand la politique environnementale est considérée comme variable endogène, son effet sur les flux commerciaux est plus élevé de manière significative que ce qu’on a noté antérieurement.     

Reaching for the Stars: Spatial Competition and Consumer Reviews

Atlantic Economic Journal - Competition is a key feature of the market process assumed to improve market outcomes. But how strong is the relationship between competition and positive consumer...     

Microsoft’s AOL

Why the bidding from Redmond has a whiff of anotherfamous tech deal that didn’t go so well.The idea that Microsoft would take Yahoo as its hapless partner has beendiscussed for years down in the Valley.But most of the folks I’ve talked to pret-ty much dismissed it as too wrong tocontemplate. Even Microsoft, dissed byValley Guys as not getting the Web (seeprevious column here), wouldn’t actual-ly go through with it, Yahoo’s decent dowry notwithstanding.     

Venture capital investment cycles: The impact of public markets

It is well documented that the venture capital industry is highly volatile and that much of this volatility is associated with shifting valuations and activity in public equity markets. This paper examines how changes in public market signals affected venture capital investing between 1975 and 1998. We find that venture capitalists with the most industry experience increase their investments the most when public market signals become more favorable. Their reaction to an increase is greater than the reaction of venture capital organizations with relatively little industry experience and those with considerable experience but in other industries. The increase in investment rates does not affect the success of these transactions adversely to a significant extent. These findings are consistent with the view that venture capitalists rationally respond to attractive investment opportunities signaled by public market shifts.     

Fear of rejection? Tiered certification and transparency

Product quality certifiers may not reveal the identity of unsuccessful applicants/sellers for three reasons. First, they respond to the desire of individual sellers to avoid the stigma from rejection. Second, nontransparency helps a certifier to increase his market power by raising the stigma from lower‐tier certification. Third, transparency does not help screen among heterogeneous sellers. Strategic complementarities arise as sellers move down the certification pecking order and lead to the stigmatization of the lower tiers. Mandating transparency benefits the sellers but has an ambiguous impact on buyers, who actually become less informed about product quality.