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This paper investigates the degree of market power in the Syrian banking sector over the period 2005–2016 where research on competitive conditions does not exist. The degree of competitiveness is assessed based on the revenue elasticity to input prices approach and is related to a set of market indicators. To test whether the Syrian crisis has altered the competitive conditions over the years of the sample, I divide the full sample into two subsamples, namely the pre‐crisis years (2005–2012) and the crisis years (2013–2016). The results suggest that banks in Syria earn their interest and total revenue under conditions of monopoly. I find that the trend of market structure—characterized by a monopoly—in the pre‐crisis years continues over crisis years. My findings provide robust evidence that a collusive behaviour among banks is in operation in the banking sector of Syria. The difficult penetration into/exit from the market has led to the existence of a profit‐curb mechanism for the Syrian banks, hence, an upward shift in the marginal cost curve will be associated with a reduction in revenue as a result of the optimal condition for these banks which act as monopolists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study evaluated the contribution of changes in the sectorial structure of the labor market based on the dynamics of the schooling of the employed and the respective degree of intrasectoral informality. As a case study, Espírito Santo was chosen from 2015 to 2019, based on PnadC/IBGE microdata. The results showed that, while in the Metropolitan Region of Greater Vitória (RMGV) sectoral reallocation contributed negatively to the growth of informality (mainly among those with more schooling), in the Non-Metropolitan Region (RNM) the effect was the opposite (mainly among those with less schooling), emphasizing the importance of schooling as an instrument to combat informality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Large organizations mold technological advance in countries and even more so in cities. External economies of scale and invention are closely linked, but the organizational strategies of individual firms cannot be overlooked in understanding the geography of patenting. Market structures and inventive intensity are properties of complex systems featuring endogenous multi-directional interactions. Oligopolistic firms are pivotal in many large inventive cities, especially outside Silicon Valley. The more these firms dominate technological advance the higher the patenting rate. Less inventive large cities are frequently reliant on individuals and employees of universities and federal agencies to procure grants. Some implications of organizational structure and granularity for urban policy are outlined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper a new model of short-term price levelling behaviour is introduced, for the case of variability arising from demand-side factors rather than supply-side factors. The key components are the direction of the information flow in the market, and the ability of value chain participants to adjust their demand for and supply of market services. The model is illustrated using data from the Papua New Guinea coffee industry. Almost all PNG coffee is exported to a wide range of countries. The industry has a competitive marketing structure with many active producers and buyers of various sizes. There is keen competition for the limited supply of coffee, but inefficiency in the pricing mechanism has long been a concern to many producers in the industry, in particular the smallholder coffee producers. They argue that increases in world coffee prices have not been fully passed on to growers, with exporters and processors able to hold their buying prices stable in the face of rising world market prices. In this study marketing margin analysis is used to investigate and test hypotheses related to price levelling, and in addition, the influence of marketing costs and throughput, on the aggregate industry margin, and the exporting margin and processing margin components. Average monthly price data over the period January 1999 to December 2010 are used. Using simple regression models, at the whole chain level short -run price levelling is confirmed and both aggregate costs and total volume of exports are significant determinants of the size of the margin. Short-run price levelling is also confirmed at both the exporting and processing stages, but in the preferred models, while throughput is an important determinant of exporter and processing margins, costs have a significant but negative effect on margins. Partial adjustment processes are important in determining margins at all stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the article is to study the structure of the market of heat energy producers by organizational and legal forms of economic management and by types of ownership, to determine on this basis the directions of reforming the communal heat and power industry. To achieve the aforementioned goal, the available regional registers of licensees-economic entities in the field of heat supply, as well as the resolutions of the National Energy and Utilities Regulatory Commission on the issuance of licenses and/or setting the tariffs for heat energy, are analyzed. The accomplished analysis covers the period from 2014 to the first half of 2023 inclusive. 980 economic entities that carried out economic activity during the analyzed period, among them 844 that operated at the end of this period, are identified. These economic entities have different forms of ownership and different organizational and legal forms of economic management. It is determined that the well-known statement that the municipal heat and power industry has been in a state of crisis is valid only for the communal utilities operating large district heating systems. Such enterprises are characterized by a high level of wear and tear of equipment, unsatisfactory financial condition, and inefficient management of the enterprise. Along with the latter, the private sector enterprises are actively developing in Ukraine. Of the total number of economic entities included in the sample (844), more than half (492) are private enterprises, limited liability companies, or individual entrepreneurs. Such economic entities operate effectively in regional markets without receiving any subsidies from local budgets; many of them have been around for more than 10 years. On the basis of the performed analysis, directions of reforming heat and power enterprises of various forms of ownership, first of all, the State-owned and municipal enterprises, are suggested. It is proposed, when expecting an increase in the level of management of a municipal utility enterprise, in particular, to have all kinds of activities unbundled and to implement the outsourcing of the non-core functions. Prospects for further research on this topic would be the study of the organization of heat supply in certain regions and settlements of Ukraine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article provides methods for flexibly capturing unobservable heterogeneity from longitudinal data in the context of an exponential family of distributions. The group memberships of individual units are left unspecified, and their heterogeneity is influenced by group-specific unobservable factor structures. The model includes, as special cases, probit, logit, and Poisson regressions with interactive fixed effects along with unknown group membership. We discuss a computationally efficient estimation method and derive the corresponding asymptotic theory. Uniform consistency of the estimated group membership is established. To test heterogeneous regression coefficients within groups, we propose a Swamy-type test that allows for unobserved heterogeneity. We apply the proposed method to the study of market structure of the taxi industry in New York City. Our method unveils interesting and important insights from large-scale longitudinal data that consist of over 450 million data points. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates price relationships along the Norwegian salmon value chains in France, the EU's leading consumption market for salmon, and Poland, the EU's largest "processing hub." Using a vector error correction model framework, our results indicate that the salmon price determination is a supplier-driven process, with the export prices in Norway influencing prices in France and Poland, but not vice versa. Results also suggest that price linkages are strong between the export market in Norway and the retail market in France and the processing industry in Poland; however, the Polish retail sector is separated from markets at the upstream level, while price discovery at the French wholesale market is dominated by the retail market. Our findings imply that the evolved market structures lead to efficiently functioning retail markets in France and wholesale markets in Poland, but put the French wholesale and Polish retail markets at a disadvantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is devoted to substantiation of new scientific approaches to the study and analysis of relevant processes of modelling global stock markets using interdisciplinary tools within the framework of existing patterns and taking into account the peculiarities of evolution of socio-economic systems and globally significant market factors. The article considers the fundamental principles of stock market modelling, which, in addition to the structural component, are determined by the typology of the investment process in the economy and are determined by post-industrial development factors, in particular, the processes of digitalisation, networking, platformisation, technologicalisation and intellectualisation. This leads to the formation of qualitatively new states of the stock market, which are characterised by internal similarity of functioning processes, logical and schematic description, and a certain sequence and continuity of development. To this end, the article formulates a hierarchical species range of stock market models, provides their essential characteristics and builds a "spiral" of evolution of stock market models. On this basis the article offers a mechanism of forecasting the stock market with the use of resources of different models and successive change of types of models within the system hierarchy of stages of development of the market. As a result of the study, it is concluded that with the gradual complication of the type of model, the relationship between the model components and the parameters of these components, a general paradigm of global stock market development is formed, which allows analysing trends, patterns, features, factors, market processes, and also provides opportunities for their forecasting. This methodological approach can be used for modelling and forecasting the development of other socio-economic systems that operate on the basis of the market and marketability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a firm's research and development (R & D) investments for abatement technology innovation is modeled as a non-cooperative two-stage game. Parameters are introduced to simulate the spillover effects and market structure. Our advanced analysis together with numerical experiments reveals that (i) as the market structure becomes more competitive, the firm's investments for abatement technology innovation under non-cooperative setting is more likely to be preferred to the investments for abatement technology innovation under cooperative setting; (ii) for a given emission tax, the firm's investments for abatement technology innovation increase with the increase of the spillovers, while the investments for abatement technology innovation decrease with the increase of the competition intensity; (iii) for a given emission tax, the optimal solution of the firm's investments for abatement technology innovation is stable for both non-cooperative and cooperative cases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Desarrollo Gerencial is the property of Universidad Simon Bolivar (USB) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

We investigate investment incentives in credence corporate social responsibility under different market structures. In duopoly, for high enough investment transparency (IT), exactly one firm invests in the clean technology: They differentiate their products. If the firms merge, with high enough IT and product traceability, the monopolist also invests in (only) one plant, but the necessary IT for investment is higher. Without product traceability, whenever the monopolist invests, it is in both plants, but the IT required for investment is even higher. We conclude that "green" competition policy must be nuanced, taking into account (or regulating) both transparency and traceability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research investigates the relationship between efficiency and firm growth as well as the relationship between firm growth and market structure (CR4) to evaluate whether the quiet-life (QL) and/or efficient structure (ES) hypothesis applies in the Indonesian palm oil industry. This study uses large and medium industry survey data sourced from the Indonesian Bureau of Central Statistics (BPS) for the period from 1990 to 2017. The efficiency score is calculated using data envelopment analysis (DEA) using a bootstrapping approach. The two-step generalized method of moments (GMM) and panel vector auto regression (PVAR) are used to test the two hypotheses. The results show that technical efficiency can increase a firm's market share, market concentration, and market power. These results support the ES hypothesis. This research also finds that market structure (CR4) has an impact on firm efficiency, providing evidence supporting the QL hypothesis. These results indicate that the ES and QL hypotheses apply in Indonesia during a business cycle that needs to be considered by policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discrete games provide the means to analyze market dynamics with limited data. However, computing such games with many players—especially in a complete information setting—is computationally infeasible because the strategy space increases exponentially with the number of players. This study presents a novel and practical method to compute and estimate discrete games. To do so, the study introduces two methodological innovations. First, we develop an efficient simulator that requires fewer random draws to evaluate the likelihood of discrete games with multiple equilibria. The augmented simulator avoids random draws that are not compatible with the observed equilibrium outcome and, thus, efficiently uses all draws to evaluate the likelihood. Second, we utilize general‐purpose computing on graphics‐processing unit (GPGPU), using multiple processing cores in a graphics‐processing unit, to increase computational speed. The two features allow us to estimate the model significantly faster compared to traditional methods. The study's empirical application examines the effect of Apple's company‐owned stores on the retail market structure. The results show that agglomeration effects exist between Apple and upscale firms. The presence of an Apple store attracts high‐income customers, promoting the entry of upscale firms and the exit of discount firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposes a method to analyze market structures using changes in the number of farms and amount of farm incomes, taking Korea as a case study. We discern the market structures in agriculture by scrutinizing the impact of variations in agricultural added-value and production costs on the count of farms and farm-type specific agricultural incomes using the method. We also explore the significant influence of policy changes on agricultural market structures. As a result, in response to the increase in agricultural value-added, most types of farm households are in a short-term equilibrium state with both the number of farm households and amount of agricultural incomes increasing. In response to the increase in agricultural management costs, results of the distribution of farm households and agricultural incomes depend on farm types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article investigates the retail price and quality effort joint decisions in a virtual product supply chain with information sharing. The virtual product supply chain consists of a supplier, who develops a virtual product, and a distributor, who distributes the product. We model two popular competitions as Stackelberg and Nash games and identify the equilibrium conditions for the pricing and quality effort decisions. In Stackelberg game, the supplier's profit monotonically increases in the elasticity of quality effort. In Nash game, and a higher elasticity of quality effort does not always benefit the supplier. The distributor will voluntarily share demand information only with a large quality economy. Our analyses reveal that the double marginalisation is weaker when the distributor shares information. However, the distributor's mark-up decision is independent with the cost of quality effort. With a large quality economy, information sharing benefits both supply chain players under certain conditions. We show that supply chain game structure does not affect the distributor's decision in information sharing, and the decision only depends on the market structure. In the extension, nonlinear demand functions are investigated, and the results show that most of the results from the main analyses still hold with a few exceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

19 Federal Trade Commission, 'Policy Statement Regarding the Scope of Unfair Methods of Competition Under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act' (10 November 2022) Commission File No P221202 1, 9-10 < https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc%5fgov/pdf/P221202Section5PolicyStatement.pdf > accessed 17 April 2023. 23 Lina Khan, 'Oversight of the Enforcement of the Antitrust Laws - Prepared Statement of the Federal Trade Commission Before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights' (20 September 2022) US Federal Trade Commission < https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc%5fgov/pdf/P210100SenateAntitrustTestimony09202022.pdf > accessed 17 April 2023. Keywords: Antitrust; Consumer Welfare Standard; Chicago School; Neo-Brandeis; Department of Justice; Federal Trade Commission; K21; L40; L41; L51 EN Antitrust Consumer Welfare Standard Chicago School Neo-Brandeis Department of Justice Federal Trade Commission K21 L40 L41 L51 203 208 6 08/11/23 20230701 NES 230701 I. INTRODUCTION The Biden Administration is seeking to redefine US antitrust policy that it views as largely responsible for historical underenforcement of antitrust laws in the USA.[1] To achieve this, President Biden appointed progressive reformers to leadership positions[2] and lawmakers are proposing amendments to the antitrust laws.[3] These reforms could be described as a battle for the very soul of antitrust though such policy shifts in antitrust enforcement are not unprecedented.[4] Arguably a victor of a previous antitrust policy battle was the Chicago School with its core underlying assumption that markets self-correct.[5] Allied to that view was its emphasis on economic theory and analytical methods that rely heavily on economic analysis, especially the consumer welfare standard (CWS). [Extracted from the article]

We present a new class of methods for identification and inference in dynamic models with serially correlated unobservables, which typically imply that state variables are econometrically endogenous. In the context of Industrial Organization, these state variables often reflect econometrically endogenous market structure. We propose the use of Generalized Instrument Variables methods to identify those dynamic policy functions that are consistent with instrumental variable (IV) restrictions. Extending popular "two-step" methods, these policy functions then identify a set of structural parameters that are consistent with the dynamic model, the IV restrictions and the data. We provide computed illustrations to both single-agent and oligopoly examples. We also present a simple empirical analysis that, among other things, supports the counterfactual study of an environmental policy entailing an increase in sunk costs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Freight transport today directly affects major business decisions of customers on market coverage; purchasing; route/itinerary design; quality policy; pricing policy and payment terms, which makes it imperative to develop a system of management practices to improve the efficiency and performance of the road haulage service. Based on this argument, we set out to analyse the management practices that road transport organisations implement and use to improve efficiency, approached from an internal perspective, in order to cope with major changes in technology, markets and organisational structures, given that the key transport processes, approached in a unitary manner, integrate a series of operations that concern not only transport itself but also storage, handling and transhipment and transport packaging. Ensuring that the transport service meets market standards is a major factor in retaining customers and increasing efficiency and performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies optimal capital structure when firms learn from financial markets. We present a tractable model of stock market feedback with imperfect information aggregation. Debt issuance affects speculators' incentives to trade both directly, by changing the payoff structure of equity holders, and indirectly, through an asset substitution effect. We show that issuing debt can increase market informativeness and firm value, and may eliminate a coordination failure equilibrium with no provision of market information. We derive the optimal capital structure in this setting and present novel empirical predictions regarding the relationship between market frictions, market informativeness, and capital structure. Once the effect of debt on market informativeness is considered, risky debt does not necessarily lead to risk shifting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this commentary, I introduce the concept of patriarchal marketing in examining the persistence of gender inequality in marketing and consumer culture. I define patriarchal marketing as marketing that operates in accordance with a male-dominated power structure, in turn dominating, oppressing and exploiting women. I name this as a problem that produces the symbolic annihilation of women. In turn, this has three effects: trivialisation of the complexities of women's lives, omission of those outside of the hegemonic feminine ideal and condemnation of women's corporeality. I propose that the adoption of a feminist standpoint can challenge the oppressive power structures of patriarchal marketing that symbolically annihilate women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we survey the literature that studies fixed-income trading rules and outcomes, including Treasury securities, corporate and municipal bonds, and structured credit products. We compare and contrast the microstructure and regulation of fixed-income markets with equity markets. We highlight the nature of over-the-counter trading in the face of search costs and the associated slow evolution of electronically facilitated intermediation. We discuss the databases available to study fixed-income microstructure, as well as measures and determinants of trading costs, and the important roles dealer networks and limited transparency play. We also highlight unresolved issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study quantitative easing (QE) policies from a microstructure perspective, drawing on intraday transaction-level data for German bonds (purchased under the Eurosystem's QE program). An initial analysis of purchase decisions reveals that portfolio managers consider liquidity and the scarcity of securities in repo markets. Suggestive of significant flow effects, we detect price impacts of purchases at high and low frequencies. We find the impact on market liquidity and functioning to be ambiguous. A higher purchase volume lowers transaction costs but has an adverse impact on order-book depth. The price impact varies with market conditions and is higher for more illiquid bonds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The number of malicious hacking incidents in our increasingly IT-enabled world has been increasing over the years. Conventional wisdom focuses on negative impacts of these malicious hacker activities. We posit that malicious hacker activities also might lead to some unintended consequences, specifically related to altering of software market structure, and associated stakeholder consequences. In this study, we model the competition between two software platforms in the presence of malicious hackers who perform cyberattacks against one or both software platforms. We compare a benchmark case where malicious hackers are either absent, or if present do not target the software platforms, against a first scenario where only one software platform is targeted, and a second scenario where both software platforms are targeted. Interestingly, we find the presence of malicious hackers' activities is not always detrimental to all software industry stakeholders. In general, the results suggest that the presence of malicious hackers is more likely to result in a competitive market, while their absence is more likely to result in a monopoly. Furthermore, we show that under certain market conditions, the unsecure software platform targeted by hackers potentially can drive its more secure competitor out of the market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cloud services are transforming business and government at an ever-increasing rate. As a form of cloud service, software as a service (SaaS) is one of the fast growing segments of the information technology and has become an attractive alternative to the on-premises software. In this paper, we study the optimal pricing strategies of a cloud service provider in an incumbent-entrant setting under user upgrade cost and switching cost. Our results show that in equilibrium the market structure is not unique. The specific market segmentation depends on the incumbent's pricing strategy whether to provide discounted price to its old customers and the levels of user upgrade cost and switching cost. When faced with customers who are heterogeneous in the sensitivity to the related costs, the incumbent firm may need to offer a discount to the new customers rather than to those who have purchased from it. This implies that the entry of a SaaS firm into the market is a potential threat to the incumbent on-premises software firm, especially in capturing new customers from the untapped market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving an interface to increase control over interactions between existing product modules can create new product features which alter the basis of competition in mature (sub)markets. We empirically examine the impact of interface innovation by new market entrants from Japan in the high-end, professional camera submarket between 1955 and 1974. Prior to 1960, the industry architecture of the professional camera submarket was modular, dominated by German specialist body and specialist lens manufacturers. This market structure changed due to the success of integrated Japanese startups who, from 1961, offered novel automated exposure features, facilitated by improving the existing interface between the camera body and lens, and by making this interface a proprietary standard. Their success broke the mirror between the industry architecture, which became vertically integrated, while the product architecture remained modular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The privatization of state-trading enterprises (STEs) is posited as enabling dynamic upgrading. Malaysia has trialled this approach through Padiberas Nasional Berhad (BERNAS) as the lead firm in charge of development in the rice industry. Using published information, this study makes a longitudinal analysis at the structure, conduct, and performance post privatization through the global value chain theory. It shows that the entity has developed from a rice importation monopoly into a virtual monopoly/monopsony in rice value chain stages. In that patronage system, privatization and concentrated market structure have limited upgrading opportunities to their associated partners. Concurrently, it has morphed to a private company. The efficacy of allowing the pillar of national food security to be controlled by a private monopoly needs close examination. Only through that can governments ensure that broader social and development objectives are met, while minimizing the risks associated with both excessive reliance on a particular firm and the abandonment of competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine whether a concentrated interbank market stimulates bank collusion or monopolistic pricing towards enhancing performance. We explore this nexus by incorporating the role of bank conduct into the structure–performance paradigm. The results show that the interbank market structure provides a channel for banks to collude and engage in monopolistic pricing in the market for bank and business loans to consequently increase bank performance. Further, while the interbank market structure is both profit and cost efficient for non-conglomerate banks, it is cost efficient for foreign banks. Hence, collusion and other anti-competitive behaviours in the interbank market may exacerbate incentives for foreign and non-conglomerate bank entry. We also explored the theoretical and policy implications of these findings. Our results are robust to alternative measures of market structure, bank conduct and performance, and the use of a wide range of specifications and econometric models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the digital footprint data, exploring the differences in tourist market structure and driving factors before and after COVID-19 is important for identifying tourist market demand and optimizing tourism product supply in the post-pandemic era. Most of the existing studies have explored the impact of the pandemic on the tourist market in well-known or large cities and have provided suggestions for tourism recovery. However, these suggestions are not entirely applicable to smaller cities. Small cities have a single level of tourism product, high homogeneity of tourism resources, small tourist market scale, and high volatility of the tourism industry. Therefore, it is necessary to study the differences in the tourist market structure of small cities and its driving factors before and after the pandemic and to propose targeted measures for the tourism recovery in the post-pandemic period. This paper, taking small cities as the study area and using online travel diaries as the data source, analyzed the differences in the spatial and temporal structures of tourist markets and their driving factors in Dengfeng and Kaifeng, China, before and after the pandemic. Then, countermeasures for tourism industry recovery in the post-pandemic era were proposed. The results were as follows: the difference in the tourism off-peak season increased after the pandemic, and the concentration of tourist market spatial distribution in Dengfeng showed a decreasing trend while that in Kaifeng showed an increasing trend. In addition to region traffic, the driving effects of leisure time, climate comfort and residents' income level weakened after the outbreak. Dengfeng and Kaifeng can enhance the tourist market tendency and attractiveness by creating special indoor tourism projects, strengthening tourism product promotion and marketing and enhancing the facilities related to self-driving tours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In India, inclusivity in education can be seen as an expression of commitment to social justice. It reflects a deep commitment to the goals of universalisation of education promoted by world agencies such as UNESCO. However, pitched between the aspirational goals of achieving equity and social justice on one hand, and the economic imperative of a competitive market on the other, inclusivity in education seems an ever‐elusive goal. Students' voices and all the cultural and experiential resources they hold, are marginalised in school, contributing to alienating students from school learning. The study on which this article reports sought to support teachers glean insights from participation in a purposive modelling activity, set in a Vygotskian dialectic frame of reference. The activity focused on how learning from students and their communities can be harnessed to engage students ontologically in class, to enhance students' agentive role in an inclusive learning environment. It is rooted in a funds of knowledge approach. The qualitative data for this ethnographically oriented study have been gathered from multiple sources over 2 years and analysed thematically. The findings show that modelling not only helped teacher learning and development of practice, but also familiarised teachers with issues of equity and inclusivity. Notably, by making teachers aware of the differentiated needs of all the students in the process of invoking their unique contribution to learning from their cultural locations. The insights are used to discuss the challenges posed for teachers in making their new learning part of their teaching practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several emerging economies have embarked on structural adjustment reform programs that focused more on short-run-oriented stabilization reforms. Yet, longer-term structural policies that can shift their potential GDP were not fully taken into consideration. Thus, this paper contributes to the literature in three ways. First, we contrast the effects of stabilization and allocation policies in order to examine to what extent they complement or substitute each other. Second, we analyze how the effects of such policies can differ in the short and long term and with different market structures (perfect vs. imperfect competition). Third, we develop a CGE model for Egypt that was subject to a recent reform program developed with the IMF. Our main findings show that stabilization reforms reduce economic growth by 2.5% in the short run. Yet, they positively affect it over time especially if they are accompanied by structural reforms. Indeed, the latter increase economic growth (of 8.6% in the long run). Furthermore, from a social perspective, stabilization reform deteriorates households' welfare in the short run. Finally, we find that negative effects of stabilization and structural reforms are more pronounced under imperfect competition pointing out the importance of an effective competition policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since economic analysis of the workings of the online economy is in its early stages, detecting anticompetitive behavior remains challenging. There have been some insights from models that explain how two-sided markets work, but the practical uses of these models are limited thus far. More research is necessary on the definition and operations of platforms of different sizes and with different objectives, for example, the identification of data clustering and flows related to product clustering and information production and the relationships between data, information, and innovation. Furthermore, corporate culture, which can produce cultural clashes within an organization, may influence both (anti)competitive behavior and innovation. The cultural issue becomes even more complex when evaluating whether a merger would result in both innovation and the abuse of market power. This paper develops an overview of the technology and operations of the online economy as a start toward informing competition and antitrust policy. We present a technical overview that becomes a starting point for understanding potential areas of excessive market power. We also examine market dynamics from the large platforms' points of view to understand where they believe the online economy is heading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Should product disparagement give rise to an antitrust claim of monopolization or attempted monopolization? Majority of the courts have said no while some scholars are skeptical of these decisions. This article examines how conflicting visions of the consumer inform this debate. The conventional wisdom is that antitrust claims should adopt the principle of consumer welfare maximization with the assumption of the rational consumer, protected by product disparagement laws independent of antitrust. But if the consumer is not rational, the application of the consumer welfare standard needs to be re-examined. Specifically, product disparagement and antitrust claims are not independent or separable. This article examines the implications of the consumer division and examines both the consumer welfare assumption of conventional antitrust and its neo-Brandeisian critiques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hidden champions are world-market leaders that emulate a niche strategy. In this research, we illustrate the hidden champions' key business strategies and their evolution over space (geographical distribution) and time (technological change). While we describe their spatial distribution and argue how complementary institutional arrangements embed niche world-market leaders, our historical roadmap sketches the main milestones of how changes in technology and market structures came into existence. The emergence of niche markets is strongly tied to the evolution of technologies within both supplier and end-user markets. Tracing the evolution of niche markets, we derive three different eras of niche markets and exemplary hidden champions of their time: pre-industrial, industrial, and post-industrial. We rely on a few hidden champions that we present more in detail to illustrate their niche market emergence. Moreover, we investigate inventions and technology revolutions of the hidden champions' main industries. Building on Hermann Simon's key insights on hidden champions, we analyze how the academic discussion unfolded onwards after his first seminal contributions. We conclude through presenting fields of future research that will help to further evolve studies on hidden champions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we investigate the effects of non-exclusive agreements between networks of mobile money agents on mobile network operator choices, using survey data from Tanzania conducted in 2017. By combining survey responses with geo-location data and information on agent proximity, we employ discrete choice models to analyze consumers' decisions in subscribing to mobile network operators and their corresponding mobile money providers. Our findings highlight the significant influence of the distance to mobile money agents on consumers' subscription choices. To explore the impact of interoperability (non-exclusivity) at the mobile money agent level, where consumers can use the nearest agent from any mobile money provider, we assess its effects on market shares of mobile network operators. Our results indicate that interoperability at the agent level has only a minor impact on market shares. Smaller operators experience marginal gains as their consumers can now utilize agents of larger providers, which are often closer in proximity. In conclusion, we find that interoperability at the agent level does not considerably alter the market structure in the context Tanzania during the period under consideration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Agricultural Outlook (1673-3908) is the property of Institute of Agricultural Information, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The electrification of the transportation sector is a pivotal strategy to curb carbon emissions from traditional fossil fuel-powered vehicles. China, the world's largest electric vehicle (EV) market, leads this transformative shift. This paper aims to unravel the past decade's development story of the EV industry in China. We first provide a comprehensive overview of the EV development trend in China, including analysis of market structures, regional development variations, technology advancements, and the development of the essential infrastructure. We then summarize the different forms of subsidy programs, both monetary and non-monetary, designed to promote EV at both central and local levels, and evaluate the effectiveness of these programs and their contribution to reducing carbon emissions. We conclude by highlighting key aspects that could enhance the efficiency of subsidy programs and further propel the development of the EV industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to debates within the financialization literature by examining the rise of monopolies in the US' rental housing market. Drawing on a dataset of multifamily real estate transactions taken from the poorest census tracts in the US (so-called Opportunity Zones), we develop an antitrust framework and methodology for measuring market structure in housing using the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index. After detailing the geography of these market dynamics, we assess the specific strategies firms use to acquire market power and extract monopoly rents. This analysis reveals three critical aspects of real estate investors' anticompetitive conduct: integration between housing subsectors, acquisition strategies that rapidly scale up ownership, and corporate forms that promote cooperation. The framework developed in this article and subsequent findings offer three directions policymakers, regulators, and activists can take to reform antitrust law and better ensure affordable housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article sought to analyze the historical evolution, the composition, and the determinants of debt specialization of Brazilian firms traded on Brasil, Bolsa, Balcão (B3) from 2004 to 2019 in aggregate terms and in accordance with their financial constraints. This paper differs from the few studies on this topic carried out in Brazil and in other countries by promoting a discussion on the specialization of the debt structure in a context of financial constraints, as they are a relevant idiosyncrasy of emerging markets, such as in Brazil. The relevance of the study is to identify that debt specialization is a feature of only of financially constrained firms and not of the financially unconstrained ones. The impact of the study lies in a better understanding of why Brazilian firms are reducing their debt specialization, unlike other international evidences, such as the U.S. Descriptive statistics and regressions were estimated using the probit and tobit methods for 246 Brazilian firms between 2004 and 2019. The main result is that financial constrained firms are more likely to specialize their debt structure. Despite this propensity, these companies were the ones that most decreased their debt specialization between 2004 and 2019 (-27.77%), compared to the general sample (-27.5%) and unconstrained firms (-19.48%), revealing a behavior contrary to the U.S. scenario in which companies are increasingly specialists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to describe the structure conduct performance in the skipjack fish industry in Banda Aceh City, Analyze the influence of structure conduct performance in the skipjack fish industry in Banda Aceh city, and analyze the factors that affect the performance of the skipjack fish industry in Banda Aceh city. The number of samples is 4 companies that manage Skipjack Fish in Banda Aceh City. The market structure of the skipjack fish industry in Banda Aceh is oligopoly as seen from the value of market concentration and barriers to entry from 2011 to 2020. During this time span, the structure of the skipjack fish industry also showed market concentration and barriers to entry that were getting lower in value from year to year. This shows that competition in the skipjack fish industry is increasing. The skipjack fish industry in Banda Aceh sets a price strategy by following price rules made by outside parties such as the United States importing countries, for product strategies are carried out by classifying products based on the size and type of product treatment such as fresh skipjack fish and frozen skipjack fish. In the performance dimension, it was found that the average value of PCM for the 2011-2020 period was 33.88 percent with the largest PCM value occurring in 2018 at 44.33 percent and the lowest PCM in 2014 at 19.07 percent. Meanwhile, the average value on x-eff for the 2011-2020 period was 102.93 percent. The largest amount of internal efficiency occurred in 2019 at 147.99 percent, and the smallest x-eff value occurred in 2017 at 71.42 percent. The independent variables that are considered to affect the dependent variable (PCM) are CR4, MES, X-eff, PROD, and JLP. However, only x-eff and PROD have a significant effect on PCM. The rest such as CR4, MES, and JLP have an intangible effect because the value is greater than the real level of 0.05. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A precise understanding of the market structure of an industry forms the basis for any entrepreneurial decisions. The combination of Bishop's cross-price elasticity of demand and price elasticity of demand forms the mathematical basis for determining the market structure. However, these formulas are time-independent, which does not adequately capture the complex dynamics of today's economy. This paper attempts a systemic dynamic extension of the cross-price elasticity of demand and the price elasticity of demand by adding a temporal dimension to these formulas. This ensures that entrepreneurial and industry-specific decisions can be made more accurately by following a system-dynamic approach. This paper provides a methodological extension based on Estola's econophysical theory and combining it with Bishop's approach for determining the market structure of an industry. Econophysics ensures that the temporal dimension is taken into account in economic formulas and therefore providing a more accurate view on current economic issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This study expands the spatial scope of the Subregional Timber Supply (SRTS) model to include states in the central hardwood region and examine critical market tipping points of high-grade (large diameter) white oak under a set of illustrative scheduled demand scenarios. In light of the growing concern for future white oak timber supply, we illustrate the sensitivity of future inventory tipping points to market structure and price responsiveness. Particularly, we examined the importance of market demand parameters, including growth rates for product demand and supply/demand elasticities, in influencing future inventory trajectories in different subregions over the projection horizon. Results of this study indicate that more elastic demand and more inelastic supply response concomitantly defers the time before inventory culminates. This modeling framework shows promise in examining key ecological, climatic, and economic interrelationships that will drive future resource changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acquisitions are competitive moves that disrupt an industry's competitive structure. As a result, firms are often not passive observers of their rival's acquisitions, but actively retaliate against such competitive moves. In this study, we explore these dynamics by analyzing one way in which multimarket contact may influence acquisition strategies, namely, the type of targets acquired. We contribute to the acquisition literature by clarifying the role that pre -acquisition competitive interdependencies play in firms' acquisition strategies. Specifically, we suggest that high multimarket contact firms do not necessarily avoid acquisition activity. Instead, these firms are more likely to acquire targets that are less likely to incur retaliation from interconnected rivals. We also explore two important boundary conditions to this relationship: (1) the market's competitive structure and (2) the location of the target firm. Our empirical tests of a sample of 741 bank holding companies from 1995 to 2014 offer support for our hypotheses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgaria as a tourist destination is directly dependent on the European market of tourist services. In the last years of the 20th century, the structure of this market changed rapidly and significantly. The changes are primarily the result of the intensive processes of capital concentration and centralization in the tourism industry of the countries of the European Community. The tourism industry is one of the most profitable, and one of the most flexible, and it is normal for it to be constantly changing. In it there is a constant turnover of huge capitals, and the big tour operators are trying to organize these flows into a single streamlined system so that they can control them more easily. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper develops a novel methodology for uncovering changes in firms' competitive positions in evolving market structure maps. A common element of market structure analysis is the spatial representation of firms' competitive positions on maps. Such maps typically capture static snapshots in time. Yet, competitive positions tend to change. Embedded in such changes are firms' trajectories, that is, the series of changes in firms' positions over time relative to all other firms in a market. Identifying these trajectories contributes to market structure analysis by providing a forward-looking perspective on competition, revealing firms' (re)positioning strategies and indicating strategy effectiveness. To unlock these insights, we propose EvoMap, a novel dynamic mapping framework that identifies firms' trajectories from high-frequency and potentially noisy data. We validate EvoMap via extensive simulations and apply it empirically to study the trajectories of more than 1,000 publicly listed firms over 20 years. We find substantial changes in several firms' positioning strategies, including Apple, Walmart, and Capital One. Because EvoMap accommodates a wide range of mapping methods, analysts can easily apply it in other empirical settings and to data from various sources. History: Olivier Toubia served as the senior editor and Carl Mela served as associate editor for this article. Funding: This work was supported by German Research Foundation [Grant SK 66/9-1]. Supplemental Material: Data and the online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mksc.2022.1385. The Python implementation is available at https://github.com/mpmatthe/evomap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of earthquakes on the labor market. The authors try to estimate the impact of two major earthquakes (Izmir and Elazig) in Turkey. Design/methodology/approach: In order to analyze the effects of devastating earthquakes in the nearby regions of the province where the earthquake took place, on the labor market, monthly and annual data from the TUIK and ISKUR database will be used. For this purpose, the authors consider the earthquake a natural experiment and employ a Synthetic Control Method (SCM). In addition, the analysis will be carried out using seasonally adjusted data, taking into account the seasonal effects of the monthly data to be used in the study. Findings: The results show that the impact varies based on the labor market structure of the regions. While the earthquake positively affects the labor market of agriculture-oriented regions, it harms the labor market of nonagricultural-oriented regions. Research limitations/implications: A major limitation of the study is that we cannot fully separate the impact of Covid-19 from our estimate. The authors believe that Covid-19 overestimates the negative impact of earthquakes on the labor market. Social implications: Earthquakes have adverse effects on the labor market. The estimation of the earthquake-related costs may provide a useful guide on policy planning and government incentives. Originality/value: The originality of the study lies in the fact that this is the first study to evaluate how the dynamics of the labor market has changed as a result of the earthquakes that have taken place in Turkey, within the framework of causality. Peer review: The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-08-2022-0568 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a novel approach to optimizing the structure of the electricity market by mitigating market power through the use of forward contracts. The IEEE 30 node test system is used as a case study for the paper, which employs nodal pricing and a Cournot model with recursive optimization. The findings show that forward contracts can reduce market power and lead to a more competitive market structure with fewer participants. The study emphasizes the importance of successor companies having a well-balanced mix of generation technology. Six players with a different generational mix are optimal in the constrained nodal pricing scenario, while five players with slightly different mixes are optimal in the Cournot case study. These findings have important implications for policymakers and industry stakeholders involved in the design and implementation of efficient electricity markets. Market power can be reduced by using forward contracts and establishing an appropriate number of market participants, resulting in more efficient and sustainable electricity markets. Overall, this study provides useful insights for improving electricity market structures and increasing competition in the electricity sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]