Is the Retail Gasoline Market Local or National?

This paper studies the effect of station density on prices in the retail gasoline market in the Czech Republic. We estimate the impact of the number of competing stations in various driving-distance ranges around each station on prices. We find that station density has a negative effect on prices; the effect decreases with distance and is statistically significant up to six kilometers. This suggests that the retail gasoline market is local rather than national.     

Probability theory in fuzzy sample spaces

This paper tries to develop a neat and comprehensive probability theory for sample spaces where the events are fuzzy subsets of The investigations are focussed on the discussion how to equip those sample spaces with suitable -algebras and metrics. In the end we can point out a unified concept of random elements in the sample spaces under consideration which is linked with compatible metrics to express random errors. The result is supported by presenting a strong law of large numbers, a central limit theorem and a Glivenko-Cantelli theorem for these kinds of random elements, formulated simultaneously w.r.t. the selected metrics. As a by-product the line of reasoning, which is followed within the paper, enables us to generalize as well as to bring together already known results and concepts from literature.Acknowledgement. The author would like to thank the participants of the 23rd Linz Seminar on Fuzzy Set Theory for the intensive discussion of the paper. Especially he is indebted to Professors Diamond and Höhle whose remarks have helped to get deeper insights into the subject. Additionally, the author is grateful to one anonymous referee for careful reading and valuable proposals which have led to an improvement of the first draft.This paper was presented at the 23rd Linz Seminar on Fuzzy Set Theory, Linz, Austria, February 5–9, 2002.     

EEC action in regard to consumer safety,particularly in the food sector

The paper discusses trends and actions of the European Economic Community (EEC) in the field of consumer safety. EEC law has no fast principle of consumer safety nor special agencies responsible for it. EEC actions are restricted to specific measures, especially in the area of foodstuffs (additives, colouring agents etc.). EEC law suffers a number of deficiencies. There is — with the exception of pharmaceutical products — no regulation on EEC-wide market withdrawals. Member state safety decisions may be in conflict and put strain on the EEC principle of free movement of goods. Certain directives contain only minimum standards and therefore do not make for common safety regulations in the EEC. There are gaps in the information exchange systems among the EEC and member states even though an EEC decision of 1984 improved the situation. The author goes on to make some suggestions for future action.

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Gemeinschaftsaktionen zugunsten der Sicherheit des Verbrauchers unter besonderer Berücksichtigung des Lebensmittelrechts

Zusammenfassung Die Europäischen Gemeinschaften (EG) haben nur begrenzte Kompetenzen im Bereich der Verbrauchersicherheit. Deshalb ist dem EG-Recht ein allgemeines Prinzip unbekannt, das die Sicherheitsinteressen des Verbrauchers produktunabhängig schützt. Vielmehr geht die EG problembezogen vor; das Einstimmigkeitsprinzip und die fehlende Öffentlichkeit erzwingen eine Beschränkung auf sehr konkrete und sehr spezifische Maßnahmen. Umfängliche Regelungen gibt es vor allem im Bereich von Lebensmitteln, insbes. hinsichtlich von Zusatzstoffen.Das EG-Recht weist eine Reihe von Lücken auf. Es fehlt — bis auf die Ausnahme der Arzneimittel — eine Regelung über den Rückruf von Produkten. Konflikte zwischen dem freien Warenverkehr und mitgliedstaatlichen Schutzinteressen aus Gründen tatsächlicher oder vermeintlicher Verbrauchersicherheit sind an der Tagesordnung. Der Informationsaustausch über Produktrisiken ist unzureichend; eine entsprechende Gemeinschaftsinitative erfaßt nicht freiwillige Maßnahmen.Der Beitrag erörtert schließlich die Möglichkeiten für künftige Gemeinschaftsaktionen.The paper is a slightly changed and updated version of a paper given at a seminar in Paris on 8 November 1983, organized by the Association Française pour le Droit de l'Alimentation and dealing with safety and food.

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Ludwig Krämer works at the EC Commission, Directorate General XI (Environment, Consumer Protection, and Nuclear Safety), 10 rue Guimard, B-1049 Brussels, Belgium. The views expressed in this paper are purely personal.     

Tourism-based heritage conservation in Murshidabad: an appraisal

The article appraises the outcome of promoting tourism as a strategy for heritage conservation in the case of Murshidabad, an archetypal historic town in decline in India. A relational maturity-based framework has been used to examine the complementarities and conflicts between tourism and heritage conservation in the town. The prevailing nature of tourism conservation relationship in Murshidabad upholds the criticality characteristically observed in developing countries, where governments focus primarily on the revenue generating potential of built-heritage centric tourism ignoring the conservation attention necessary to retain authenticity and meaningful existence of historic structures. The overarching issues emerging from the current level of relational maturity in Murshidabad are identified with suggestions for possible policy implications of the study.     

Survey-based forecast distributions for Euro Area growth and inflation: ensembles versus histograms

Ensemble methods can be used to construct a forecast distribution from a collection of point forecasts. They are used extensively in meteorology, but have received little direct attention in economics. In a real-time analysis of the ECB’s Survey of Professional Forecasters, we compare ensemble methods to histogram-based forecast distributions of GDP growth and inflation in the Euro Area. We find that ensembles perform very similarly to histograms, while being simpler to handle in practice. Given the wide availability of surveys that collect point forecasts but not histograms, these results suggest that ensembles deserve further investigation in economics.