Information brokers and the use of budgetary and financial information by politicians: the case of Portugal

This paper analyses the intermediary role of the technical bodies that support the use of budgetary and financial information by central government politicians in Portugal. The main findings show that information brokers are playing a central role in preparing this information in a credible, simple and understandable way. However, even if not intentionally, the information they present can be biased. Politicians need to be aware that the information brokers they rely on may not be giving them ‘neutral’ information.     

Welfare effects of unbundling under different regulatory regimes in natural gas markets

In this paper, we develop a theoretical model that enriches the literature on the pros and cons of ownership unbundling vis-à-vis lighter unbundling frameworks in the natural gas markets. For each regulatory framework, we compute equilibrium outcomes when an incumbent firm and a new entrant compete à la Cournot in the final gas market. We find that the entrant’s contracting conditions in the upstream market and the transmission tariff are key determinants of the market structure in the downstream gas market (both with ownership and with legal unbundling). We also study how the regulator must optimally set transmission tariffs in each of the two unbundling regimes. We conclude that welfare maximizing tariffs often require free access to the transmission network (in both regulatoy regimes). However, when the regulator aims at promoting the break-even of the regulated transmission system operator, the first-best tariff is unfeasible in both regimes. Hence, we study a more realistic set-up, in which the regulator’s action is constrained by the break-even of the regulated firm (the transmission system operator). In this set-up, we find that, for a given transmission tariff, final prices in the downstream market are always higher with ownership unbundling than with legal unbundling.     

Ricardian fiscal regimes in the European Union

The prevalence of different fiscal regimes is important both for practical policy reasons and to assess fiscal sustainability, notably for European Union countries. The purpose of this article is to assess, with a panel data set, the empirical evidence concerning the existence of Ricardian fiscal regimes in EU-15 countries. The results give support to the Ricardian fiscal regime hypothesis throughout the sample period, and for sub-samples accounting for the dates of the Maastricht Treaty and for the setting-up of the Stability and Growth Pact. Furthermore, electoral budget cycles also seem to play a relevant role in fiscal behaviour.

Exploring the experience value of museum visitors as a co-creation process

Museums’ visitors can play an active role both during and after the visit that will allow them to shape a significant experience. The present work explores this role of the visitor as co-creator of experiences. Prior knowledge and interest enable visitors to participate and interact during the visit, all of which basically allows them to build a more intense experience in those areas that require their involvement. It is these more active experiences, and only these, which drive the individual’s intention to continue participating actively after the visit, seeking information and revisiting the museum, following it on social networks and making recommendations on opinion pages.     

A Sequential Allocation Problem: The Asymptotic Distribution of Resources

In this paper, we consider a sequential allocation problem with n individuals. The first individual can consume any amount of a resource, leaving the remainder for the second individual, and so on. Motivated by the limitations associated with the cooperative or non-cooperative solutions, we propose a new approach from basic definitions of representativeness and equal treatment. The result is a unique asymptotic allocation rule for any number of individuals. We show that it satisfies a set of desirable properties.     

Effects of Adverse Selection on a Multinational Firm’s Decision on where to Subcontract

This paper analyses the effects of adverse selection on a multinational firm’s decision on where to subcontract. Adverse selection arises since subcontractor firms have more information than the multinational concerning their production costs. The results obtained show that adverse selection confers to subcontractor firms an advantage in their relationship with the multinational, inducing the multinational to subcontract in more than one country. In this way, adverse selection modelling outcomes justify, and are coherent with, the empirical evidence such as, the diversity of countries that multinational firms subcontract and the fast production relocation between countries.      

Impacts of 2003 CAP reform on land rental prices and capitalization

Based on a graphical analysis, we investigate the impacts of the Fischler Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy on land rental prices and the capitalization of single farm payments (SFP) into land values. The model shows that the degree of capitalization mainly depends on the scarcity/surplus of SFP entitlements relative to eligible hectares, the implementation model (historical versus regional) and the land supply elasticity. If there are more SFP entitlements than eligible hectares, the degree of capitalization into land values may not decline and may even increase due to the inclusion of other supports such as animal premiums in the SFP. We test this hypothesis with an empirical analysis of cross-section data on land rental prices in Bavaria for 2005. Empirical results indicate that decoupled SFP are capitalized into rental prices to a larger degree than the coupled direct payments of the time prior to the reform.     

Comparative analysis of government forecasts for the Lisbon Airport

The study examines the official forecasts for airline passenger numbers for the Lisbon metropolitan area. Auto-regressive and exponential smoothing models are used to develop independent forecasts for passenger numbers. The forecasts show that the government forecasts are at the top end of estimates and should be considered overly optimistic.