Tax Competition and Redistribution in a Two-Country Endogenous-Growth Model

This paper examines the effects of policy coordinationin a two-country world with endogenous growth and imperfect capitalmobility. Redistribution is financed by a source-based capital-incometax. Comparing the cases in which countries do and do not coordinatetheir fiscal policies, it is shown that redistribution can beinefficiently high if fiscal policies are not coordinated. Thisis because the negative effects of fiscal policy on home savingsaffect economic growth abroad by inducing a decline in foreigninvestment. This externality can dominate the well-known tax-baseexternality.     

基于Lotka-Volterra模型的中国股票市场非线性特征—— 一个生态学的视角

股票市场是一个非线性的复杂动力系统,将生态学的多种群Lotka-Volterra竞争模型进行改进后引入到股票市场,通过系统仿真,模拟中国股市运行,得出了类似于股票市场运行的非线性特征,为研究股市复杂性提供了新思路。     

Net neutrality and market power: The case of South Africa

Net neutrality rules have been implemented in many developed countries, often in response to concerns over network operator market power and potential blocking or throttling of content. However, developing countries typically have significantly lower levels of internet penetration and usage. Market power in respect of internet access looks quite different given that mobile is the predominant means of connection and there are often three or more mobile operators. In South Africa, there is a quasi-monopoly in the paid satellite broadcasting market and broadband providers zero-rating content from third parties (such as Netflix) may bring about more competition. We test the main theories of harm arising in the net neutrality debate, including network operator market power and exclusion among content providers using data on the number of announced prefixes and peers and IP addresses and considering examples of bundling and zero-rating conduct by operators. We find that net neutrality rules are less likely to be required in South Africa and other developing countries and that strict enforcement of such rules could in fact hinder competition in markets for content, telecommunications networks and other related markets.     

An analysis of the disruptive impact of the entry of Free Mobile into the French mobile telecommunications market

The issue of disruptive operators has recently gained interest among researchers and regulators. From a regulator's perspective, disruptive operators can increase competitive rivalry in markets dominated by a handful of large companies, thereby allowing consumers to obtain more benefits in terms of price and quality. Largely overlooked in this discussion has been the impact that the specific identity, complementary assets of operators, and their strategies have on the marketplace dynamics. In this paper we explore the impact that one such operator – Free Mobile – has had on the French mobile telecommunications market. Drawing on a wide range of secondary sources, our analysis finds that the entry and subsequent growth of Free Mobile has had a complex and multi-faceted impact on the market. Their growth has been at the expense of the other three mobile network operators active in the French market, while their innovative business model, which enables it to compete on the basis of low costs, has been copied by its rivals. The specific characteristics of Free Mobile and of its strategy have contributed to a significantly alteration to how competition occurs in this market. This, in turn, triggers a strong incentive for restructuring, which is actually restrained by regulatory concerns.     

China’s telecommunications evolution,institutions, and policy issues on the eve of 5G: A two-decade retrospect and prospect

Over the past two decades, China’s telecommunications industry has witnessed drastic market reform, steadfast institutionalization, and volatile technological changes, which have driven exponential industry expansion. This paper offers an updated longitudinal and comprehensive review on this reform process on the eve of 5G (the fifth generation mobile communications networks). First, the paper segments the two-decade reform crusade into discernible phases, each of which is embedded with different policy drives. These reform phases are then pattern-matched against the subtleties of the overall institutional, technological, and market backdrop. A series of policy issues are identified through a systematic examination of industry phenomena over the reform course. Finally, the status of research is assessed regarding China’s telecom industry and reform, based on which, knowledge gaps are identified and future research agenda suggested. Conclusions are made regarding future reform and research imperatives. The paper advances the understanding of China’s telecom reform, development, and the underlying policy issues. It updates and expands previous works on similar topics. Overall, this study provides important theoretical, managerial, and policy implications.     

Regulatory inertia versus ICT dynamics: The case of product innovations

This article conjectures that the legacy industry-specific regulation that has governed the telecommunications sector for a long time is in basic conflict with the dynamics and product innovations that characterize the modern information and communications technology (ICT) sector. Reasons for the failure of legacy regulation to promote product innovations are explained and proposals for alternatives, such as deregulation and regulatory reform are discussed. Both regulation and competition policy are more difficult for ICT than for other sectors. Therefore both, regulation and competition policy may need reforms in order to deal with new problems. The most drastic and most realistic alternative to legacy-type regulation remains deregulation and a move to competition policy. Symmetric regulation, smart regulation, quasi-Coasean approaches and subsidies all have some limited applicability to specific situations, but are all associated with complications that have to be resolved, while competition policy is a comprehensive alternative. Last-mile access and gatekeeper access are analyzed as two main areas of legacy regulation, which are in danger of being exported to other ICT areas. Such exports may negatively affect the dynamics of the ICT industry. Rather than being exported, legacy regulations should be reduced in order to enhance product innovations.     

Information,market power,and price volatility

We consider demand function competition with a finite number of agents and private information. We show that any degree of market power can arise in the unique equilibrium under an information structure that is arbitrarily close to complete information. Regardless of the number of agents and the correlation of payoff shocks, market power may be arbitrarily close to zero (the competitive outcome) or arbitrarily large (so there is no trade). By contrast, price volatility is always lower than the variance of the aggregate shock across all information structures. Alternative trading mechanisms lead to very distinct bounds as a comparison with Cournot competition establishes.     

“丝路经济带”九省市经济金融竞争力评价

深入剖析丝绸之路沿线国内段九省市的综合发展实力,探索不同发展战略定位下省 区市竞合协同发展路径,对全面发展丝绸之路经济带具有重要意义。本文从经济发展竞争力、 环境设施与可持续发展竞争力、科技创新与财富竞争力、金融发展竞争力、对外开放竞争力五 个维度建立指标评价体系,运用分类主成分分析法全面衡量九个省市经济金融发展的分项和综 合竞争力,将九省市分为三个发展梯度,形成资源聚集与要素流动的直观剖析。在此基础上,利 用聚类分析法得出丝绸之路经济带区域经济关联的着力点与经济发展的增长极,并最终得出处 于不同梯度省区市间开展基于优势竞争力的产业间合作的三大有效路径。     

Economic and financial themes in Australian aged care

This contribution reflects the results of work for a review of aged care in Australia. Initial material covers the policy arrangements in place prior to the beginning of the Review in September 2002. The main feature of the contribution is a survey of economic and financial performance of aged care entities not hitherto attempted. Most attention is directed to labour costs in relation to total costs and earnings before interest and taxes. Cross-section analyses are based on institutional differences between providers of services with some operating as “for profit” entities but most are not reflecting their religious, community-based and charitable origins. Locational differences are also examined. The results show a very great disparity in experiences so that notions of the average experience across providers of services cannot be upheld. Differences between the top 10 percent of entities offering services and the bottom quartile are striking. The implications for development of new strategic approaches to policies are clear.