Perceptions regarding strategic and structural entry barriers

This article uses factor analysis to identify the underlying dimensions of strategic and structural entry barriers. We find that, in the perception of firms, both types of barriers are important and that the effectiveness of strategic barriers depends on attributes of the market structure. Based on the seven generic factors, a conjoint analysis is carried out to identify the most important factors perceived by firms. The conjoint analysis shows that in particular the barriers rooted in three underlying dimensions require attention of market authorities as they may prevent new entrants from entry: capital, access to distribution channels and strategic action. Remarkably, government rules and regulations, product differentiation, research and development (R&D) and advertising constitute minor entry problems according to firms.     

Policy rule Nash equilibria

Abstract.  We study how different types of instrument rules affect the outcome of a monetary policy game between the central bank and the private sector. Policy rules can be independent of output and a shock, functions of the shock, or functions of output. We rank the Nash equilibria generated by different types of policy rules according to the central bank's ex ante expected loss. If both players can condition on output, then the following is true: no equilibrium exists if the central bank cares much about output stability and little about price stability, and infinitely many equilibria exist otherwise. JEL classification: E52, E61
Equilibres à la Nash des règles de politique.  L'auteur étudie comment le choix de divers types de règles instrumentales a un effet sur le résultat d'un jeu de politique monétaire entre la banque centrale et le secteur privé. Les règles de politique peuvent être indépendantes de la production ou d'un choc, être fonction d'un choc ou de la production. On établit un ordre des équilibres à la Nash engendrés par ces divers types de règles de politique selon la taille des pertes anticipées ex ante par la banque centrale. Si les deux joueurs fondent leur comportement sur la production, il s'ensuit que — aucun équilibre n'existe si la banque centrale est très préoccupée par la stabilité du niveau de production et peu préoccupée de la stabilité des prix, et autrement, une infinité d'équilibres existent.     

Political Learning: The Neglected Precondition of Constitutional Reform

This paper analyses the claim of constitutional economics that liberal economic policy requires far-reaching constitutional reform. The paper starts with a restatement of this claim and reinforces the rationale of the currently most influential variants of constitutional economics as represented by contractarian constitutional economics (Brennan, Buchanan), on the one hand, and Hayek s evolutionary theory, on the other. However, these constitutional proposals have shortcomings because the institutional preconditions of constitutional reform are not sufficiently reflected. Instead, I argue that, in face of economic crisis, a revision of in-period politics requires no more collective rationality than constitutional reform does. As a consequence, the introduction of new constitutional rules depends on political learning. The article concludes that constitutional rules in the sense of CPE can stabilise political learning but they cannot replace it.     

Open gaps,metrization and utility

Summary It is shown that each of the Debreu Open Gap Theorem and the Debreu Continuous Utility Representation Theorem can be used in order to prove the other. Furthermore, it is proved that the classical Alexandroff-Urysohn Metrization Theorem implies Debreu's Continuous Utility Representation Theorem and, thus, all known results on the existence of continuous utility functions.