Endogeneity and measurement errors when estimating demand functions with average prices: an example from the movie market

Due to a lack of information about the prices faced by consumers, demand functions are sometimes estimated using average prices, namely total revenue divided by the number of consumers. Examples of this type of estimation can be found for cinema, sporting events and the performing arts since box office revenue is frequently available, though it is also common in other industrial markets. We construct a straightforward theoretical model showing that this practice introduces a specific type of measurement error that generates a major source of endogeneity into empirical research. Our theoretical framework also allows us, however, to find proper instruments for the endogenous price variables. An empirical application is provided using Spanish data on cinema attendance to illustrate the validity of the strategy proposed here to address this sort of endogeneity in an instrumental variable framework.     

Growth and internationalisation strategies in the airline industry

This paper analyses the international growth of the global air transport sector to identify factors that determine the emergence of transnational companies and different forms of international expansion in the airline industry. An analysis of the market structure is conducted to understand why traditional, full service airlines have adopted alliances and code sharing to internationalise their business, while low-cost carriers prefer more direct methods to enter new foreign markets.     

Trade policy and quality leadership in transition economies

Trade policy and quality leadership in transition economies are analyzed in a duopoly model of trade and vertical product differentiation. We first show that the incidence of trade liberalization is sensitive to whether firms in transition economies are producers of low or high quality. Second, we find that neither free trade nor the absence of a domestic subsidy are optimal: Both a tariff and a subsidy increase price competition and while the former extracts foreign rents the latter results in quality upgrading. Third, there exists a rationale for a government to commit to a socially optimal policy to induce quality leadership by the domestic firm when cost asymmetries are low. Finally, we establish an equivalence result between the effects of long-run exchange rate changes and those of trade policy on price competition (but not on social welfare).     

Fractional integration and cointegration in US financial time series data

This paper examines several US monthly financial time series using fractional integration and cointegration techniques. The univariate analysis based on fractional integration aims to determine whether the series are I(1) (in which case markets might be efficient) or alternatively I(d) with \(d < 1\) , which implies mean reversion. The multivariate framework exploiting recent developments in fractional cointegration allows to investigate in greater depth the relationships between financial series. We show that there might exist many (fractionally) cointegrated bivariate relationships among the variables examined, for some of which only standard cointegration tests had previously been carried out.