Does player specialization predict player actions? Evidence from penalty kicks at FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro Cup

Penalty kicks are analysed in the literature as ‘real life experiments’ for assessing the use of rational mixed strategies by professional players. However, each penalty kick cannot be considered a repetition of the same event because of the varying background conditions, in particular the heterogeneous ability of different players. Consequently, aggregate statistics over data sets composed of a large number of penalty kicks mediate the behaviour of the players in different games, and the properties of optimal mixed strategies cannot be tested directly because of aggregation bias. In this article, we model the heterogeneous ability of players. We then test the hypothesis that differently talented players randomize over different actions. To achieve this aim, we study a data set that collects penalties kicked during shoot-out series in the last editions of FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro Cup (1994–2012) where kickers are categorized as specialists and non-specialists. The results support our theoretical predictions.     

Country and industry-level determinants of vertical specialization-based trade

Abstract

This paper investigates country and industry-level determinants of vertical specialization-based trade. Industries that engage in this pattern of trade are identified through their use of offshore assembly provisions in the US tariff code. Findings explain why industries engage in vertical specialization-based trade and shed light on factors that enter production location decisions. Identifying factors that encourage vertical specialization-based production and trade will enhance our understanding of industry strategy and how trade patterns will evolve as the process of globalization continues. Results suggest vertical specialization-based trade will continue to grow relative to total trade.     

Cooperation In R&D With Spillovers And Delegation Of Sales ∗

Cooperation in several phases of the innovation process is viewed by antitrust authorities with suspicion. They face the dilemma between providing the right incentives for the appro-priability of returns to R&D and the risks of diminishing product market competition. The current legislation in the European Union and the United States gives special treatment to cooperation in R&D and the joint exploitation of results (extended cooperation).

We study several collusive regimes for a class of examples in which vertical relations are explicitly introduced. Regarding antitrust policy implications we fmd that: a) there is an ana-lytical justification to a ‘rule of reason’ treatment for extended cooperation in research joint ventures and, b) individual exemptions, though restrictive of competition, might be welfare improving.     

Product innovation and firms’ ownership

This paper explores (i) the incentives for an incumbent firm to acquire an entrant willing to sell a product innovation rather than openly competing with this entrant, and (ii) in case of acquisition, the incentives to sell simultaneously both the existing products and the new one rather than specializing on a single variant. We prove that, in some circumstances, an incumbent firm can find it profitable to make an acquisition proposal to the entrant. Nevertheless, in this acquisition scenario, a product proliferation strategy is never observed at equilibrium. Furthermore, while being available for sale, sometimes the innovation simply remains unexploited.     

Why has China’s vertical specialization declined?

Vertical specialization (VS) is quantified by the VS share, which measures the average import content per dollar of exports. A characteristic of China’s export trade is its strong dependence on assembly and processing activities. To take proper account of this, China’s VS shares should explicitly distinguish processing export production from other production. We estimate China’s annual VS shares from 2000 to 2012—the latest year for which a special input–output table is available that makes such an explicit distinction. We find that VS shares increased from 2000 to 2004 and subsequently started to decrease. To explore why it has declined, we introduce a new structural decomposition approach. We find that the decrease of the VS share appears to have been driven mainly by the substitution of imported intermediates by domestic products. This occurred in particular in the production of exports, which implies an upgrading of China’s position in global value chains.     

Minutes of Spring Council Meeting, 1966, of the Catholic Economic Association

Alongside neo-classical supply-side analysis, there was the emergence in the 1980s of a new strand of anlysis seeking to develop a social-institutional perspective on the supply-side of modern industrial economies. This paper contrasts the views of labor market ‘flexibility’ provided by neo-classical analysts and supporters of deregulation with those of the Flexible Specialization and Diversified Quality Production theorists and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of Flexible Specialization in comparison to its main ‘institutionalist’ rival. It concludes that the anlysis of ‘supply-side institutionalism’ and the evidence provided by important empirically based studies, suggests that public policy directed towards: optimizing job training, promoting employee participation and inter-firm co-operation, and restricting the ability of firms to indulge in short-termism will be most productive in promoting the cause of socially progressive industrial production and ‘goodwork’.     

Cost structures of banks grouped by strategic conduct

The hypothesis that the banking system consists of firms that use the same production technology is tested and rejected in this study. Six groupings of the population of commercial banks are identified using cluster analysis. The banks are grouped to reflect similar production technologies within groups but different technologies across groups as defined by the strategic conduct (i.e., activities) of the banks. The results suggest that banks in different clusters employ production processes that feature different degrees of substitutability between factors of production, and that the estimates of input substitutability for those groups look quite different from those estimated based on the full population of commercial banks. The impact of the homogeneity production technology assumption on the measurement of cost efficiency is also assessed. The results show that partitioning the industry by strategic conduct reduces the average inefficiency in the industry. These results support those found by others who used similar partitioning criteria but a more narrowly defined sample of banks.     

比较优势理论与农业区域专业化发展——以福建省为例

应用比较优势理论探讨农业区域专业化发展问题。理论推导得出,按照区域农产品生产优势来选建农业专业化部门能够实现农业增效,提高农业生产整体水平。以福建省为例,采用区位商和平均值法分析了主要农产品生产比较优势。结果表明,福建省多数县份的一种或几种农产品具有显著比较优势,农业生产的区域专业化已现端倪。但目前大多数县份主导产品不显著,专业化生产与农业资源禀赋不相协调。按照县域农产品的比较优势创建农业专业化部门,将是福建省解决"三农"问题和协调县域之间经济发展的有效途径。     

渠道发展新动态及成因分析

归纳新的市场条件下渠道发展的新动态,并从多个维度分析了这些新动态产生的原因,以便为企业的渠道设计决策和渠道管理决策提供参考。     

专业市场和产业集群的关联强度及其影响因素——基于浙江省绍兴市万份问卷的分析

本文利用对浙江省绍兴中国轻纺城市场商户和当地纺织企业所作的万余份调查问卷,发现运输成本、集群企业规模和技术水平对专业市场和产业集群关联强度的影响最大;本地物流效率提高和行业协会功能强化有助于拓展专业市场和产业集群关联的空间维度。值得注意的是,创牌激励并未成为企业脱离专业市场转而自建销售渠道的决定因素,这与专业市场自身的特征有关。