Search

The market power of monopolies can severely restrict citizens' freedom of choice. In the case of utilities, often portrayed as natural monopolies, such power may result in high prices and unreliable or absent services, especially in marginalized communities such as low-income neighborhoods or remote rural villages. While government regulation has been the traditional remedy to curb natural monopolies' power, in this paper, we address a different solution: monopoly bypassing through collective action. We present two types of monopoly bypassing—partial and complete—through the lens of civic wealth creation (CWC): the generation of social, economic, and communal endowments that benefit communities. Through our analysis of three water and sanitation utility services cases, we demonstrate how CWC is used to catalyze the collective action of engaged citizens to effectively bypass monopoly power. The cases highlight the three stakeholder categories involved in CWC initiatives—communities, enterprises, and regimes of support—and illustrate how they act collectively to provide credible market-based solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using novel shadow bank funding data, I find that shadow banks are funded by the very banks they compete with when originating mortgages. Evidence suggests that banks have market power in the upstream market for shadow banks' funding, which in turn softens mortgage market competition through their strategic behaviors in both markets. I build and calibrate a quantitative model of vertical integration and competition to show that those consumers who would most benefit from shadow bank services are the ones to bear the costs. Secondary market innovation could increase downstream competition by reducing shadow banks' reliance on their competitors. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix , which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research leverages bibliometric methodologies, enhanced by the visual analytics capabilities of CiteSpace, to meticulously examine the evolution and current trends in energy trading within power markets, analyzing 642 scholarly articles from the Web of Science Core Collection spanning from 1996 to 2023. The study aims to illuminate the prevailing research landscape, growth patterns, and future directions in energy trading dynamics. Key findings include: (1) A noticeable escalation in the volume of publications, especially from 2021 to 2023, indicating a burgeoning interest and rapid evolution in this research area; (2) The author and institutional collaboration networks are in a nascent stage, with a predominantly China-centric international collaboration pattern, including significant partnerships with the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom; (3) The focal points of research are centered around themes such as "energy management", "demand-side innovation", "decentralized energy trading", and "strategic optimization", covering areas such as intelligent grid technologies, energy market dynamics, and sustainable energy solutions. The study recommends enhancing collaborative networks, fusing technological and strategic dimensions in research, increasing focus and funding for emerging technologies, and promoting wider international and cross-disciplinary collaborations to enrich the understanding of energy trading dynamics in the context of electricity markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over 70% of Medicaid beneficiaries are enrolled in Medicaid managed care (MMC). MMC provider networks therefore represent a critical determinant of access to the Medicaid program. Many MMC insurers also participate in commercial insurance markets where prices are high, and some insurers exercise considerable market power. In this paper, we examined the relationship between commercial insurer market power and MMC physician network breadth using linked national enrollment data and provider directory data. Insurers with more commercial market power had broader Medicaid physician networks. Insurers with over 30% market share had 37.3% broader Medicaid networks than insurers in the same county that had no commercial market share. These differences were driven by greater breadth among primary care providers, as well as other specialists including OB/GYNs, surgeons, neurologists, and cardiologists. Commercial insurance market power may have spillovers on access to care for MMC beneficiaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The advent of digital economy, more particularly platform markets has increased the role of 'data' massively. Data is the central fuel around which business strategies are made coupled with associated algorithms to increase the conversion rates. It is true that since today's markets are data-driven in nature, dominant undertakings having access to data may end up prohibiting competitors to scale up their networks by exhibiting some explicit or implicit exclusionary conduct against them. Moreover, platform economies exhibit certain distinct characteristics such as network effects, feedback loops, economies of scope and scale and switching costs which in reality end up facilitating ostracization of small or new players. Various antitrust cases against big tech giants such as Google, Microsoft etc. in the recent past have brought forth the reality of such exclusionary conduct. Considering the fact that data is not only needed but is essential for today's digital businesses, the question arises if sharing of data with market players in certain situations must be ensured. From the lens of antitrust, the central issue is whether data should be considered as an 'essential facility' and under what circumstances. Essential facilities doctrine is inspired by the firms' duty to share which initially was applicable for infrastructural facilities such as phone lines and bridges, but considering that firms may refuse to share data impeding innovation in today's era, the author argues that the said doctrine, with some qualifications, must be revisited to grant open access to data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the antitrust investigations by the European Commission (AT.40703 – Amazon Buy Box) and Italian Competition Authority (A528-FBA AMAZON), and the regulatory proceeding by the Italian Authority for Communications and Postal Services (AGCom's resolution 94/22/CONS), surrounding Amazon's Store, and the interplay with its logistics and delivery services. While these authorities have raised concerns about Amazon's alleged "self-preferencing", rapid growth, and its alleged ability to leverage its (upstream) e-commerce market power to strengthen its position in (downstream) logistics services, this paper highlights alternative perspectives that are often overlooked or neglected. To achieve a comprehensive understanding of Amazon's conduct related to the above-mentioned investigations, we consider its business model, monetisation strategy, and underlying incentives. By delving deeper into the Amazon Store and its connection to logistics services, we argue that the allegations do not fully capture the evidence surrounding Amazon's practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The traditional, price-focused antitrust tools for assessing dominance under Article 102 TFEU and merger control are challenged by the business models and features of multisided digital platforms. This article demonstrates the importance of data in digital markets and how data enable the utilization of network effects and economies of scale in a manner that challenges the traditional dominance evaluation. Based on this, the article systematizes the solutions to the challenges caused by decreased accuracy of price-based tools through an analysis of various approaches to the issue. It is argued that potential competition should be emphasized more strongly throughout the dominance assessment and that different approaches can be chosen based on the case at hand. Thus the article contributes to the development of the dominance analysis for digital markets with a thorough overview of possible solutions and ties it to the proposed renewal of the Market Definition Notice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing market concentration has become a topical issue in competition law worldwide. This article explores how firms, especially digital platform businesses, increase market concentration which may facilitate entrenched market power and anti-competitive conduct in their upstream or downstream markets. It considers in an Australian context two specific ways in which the power of a dominant firms including digital platforms may be constrained. The first is allowing the parties with lesser market power to collectively bargain, which can redress the imbalance in bargaining power to make the market work more effectively. A second and related option is the introduction of mandatory codes of conduct, which may be suitable in markets where perennial problems with market power imbalances exist. Australian experience suggests that these options can assist markets to function more effectively, and they may provide additional flexibility for other jurisdictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The antitrust laws are fully stated in two statutes that seem absurdly brief in relation to the work they do. Their brevity in relation to coverage has led to three phenomena. First is the tendency of courts to use the statutory text as no more than a starting point, treating it as a general principle, or "Magna Carta," of free enterprise, and sometimes ignoring the statutory language altogether. Second, courts have responded to the statutory brevity with judicial development of numerous rules not mentioned in the statutory texts. The third phenomenon is a kind of expansionism, or belief that the antitrust laws can be used to control the entire world, or at least the entire economic world. This article considers what antitrust policy would look like if an antitrust "textualist" actually relied on the antitrust statutes themselves to control all important issues of interpretation. The language of the antitrust laws, although brief, actually says a great deal more than is commonly acknowledged. Further, the Sherman and Clayton Acts are statutes after all. They should provide the first place to look to for guidance on enforcement policy. How much different would antitrust look if we centered policy on the statutory language, using only generally accepted forensic tools and recognized canons of statutory interpretation to understand it? Among the areas where the statutory language provides considerable direction are the goals of the antitrust laws; market power and market delineation requirements; the probabilistic effects requirement of the Clayton Act, standing and the indirect purchaser rule, conspiratorial capacity and antitrust personhood, and extraterritorial effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a unified framework, this study explores the influence of regional intellectual property protection (IPP) on domestic value added in exports. A theoretical model is constructed to illustrate that IPP affects the types and prices of intermediate goods through effects of market power, product category, and crowding-out, influences the choice of domestic and imported raw materials, and finally affects the domestic added value in exports of enterprises. Empirical evidence on the influence of IPP on the domestic added value in exports is provided utilizing China Customs Statistics, the Chinese Industrial Enterprise Database, and Chinese prefectural-level data from 2000 to 2007. The results show that IPP significantly promotes the domestic value added of exports in China, but the effect is heterogeneous in terms of region and mode of enterprise trade; in the eastern region and processing trade enterprises the IPP effect is more pronounced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research focuses on market power in the private healthcare sector. This topic has been poorly explored by the extant literature and the reasons mainly rely on the peculiarities of the sector and the specific market. In fact, health providers' market power is influenced by multiple factors and by the fact that prices are often regulated by national or regional public authorities. To fill this gap, the article explores the relationship between performance characteristics and health providers' market power, measured through the Lerner index. The research is based on the analysis of panel data for 437 Italian private healthcare providers over the period 2012–2020. To explore the determinants of health providers' market power, this research employs System-generalized method of moments (SYS-GMM) estimation models. The results highlight a significant and non-linear relationship between market power and process performance, as well as with gender diversity. Intangible assets are another input variable that has a significant and positive relationship with market power. The study contributes to the identification of the performance characteristics driving health providers' market power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interconnectors play a crucial role in electric power systems. They contribute to balancing demand and supply in real-time, guaranteeing efficient dispatch in wide geographic regions, and increasing competition by creating large markets. However, interconnector capacity is a scarce resource because vertically integrated utilities were required to have generating capacity enough to supply most customers within their operating region under a regulated monopoly. Hence, identifying the efficient allocation method is essential, particularly after recent electricity market restructuring. This study evaluates the competitive effect of the implicit auction on the interconnector transmission capacity. The implicit auction allocates all the interconnector capacity simultaneously with electric energy in the day-ahead market. This method prevents market participants from strategically withholding the physical interconnector capacity ex ante to exercise market power, as allowed under the first come, first served rule. This study empirically shows how the capacity was withheld from the day-ahead market under the first come, first served rule using detailed reservation data. Next, I show that the implicit auction increases interconnector capacity available at the day-ahead market and trade volume. I use machine-learning methods, such as random forest and deep neural networks, to predict the counterfactual market outcomes without implicit auction. I find that the gain from trade under the implicit auction is more than US$55 million per year in Japan, which is more than 100 times the implementation cost of the implicit auction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines one million land transactions and firm census data sets to determine the effect of market concentration on entry deterrence in China from 2006 to 2013. We find that a one standard deviation increase in the Herfindahl–Hirschman Index leads to a one standard deviation decrease in local government‐designated industrial land sales to nonlocal firms and to a 2.9 standard deviation increase in land cost. Further evidence suggests that firms with high market power lobby their local governments to deter the entry of nonlocal firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the literature that postulates a relationship between income inequality and the relative importance of "market" and "organization" in the direction of resources. The paper emphasizes that both are endogenous; therefore, the empirical associations observed in the empirical data between inequality measures and production organization variables cannot be interpreted as indicative of causal relationships. The paper solves for the composition and size of occupational groups, the distribution of firm size, and the distribution of income as market equilibrium outcomes of an occupational choice economy, and performs a comparative static analysis. We find that the interaction between cross‐economy differences in the distribution of general skills in the labor force and the loss of control in the supervision of workers by managers can explain the empirical regularities observed in the relationship between the organization of production (distribution of firm size) and income inequality (distribution of labor income). This explanation of the empirical regularities differs from others proposed in the literature, such as those based on institutional constraints or the market power of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The final version of the 2023 Merger Guidelines, which were issued in December 2023, is a vast improvement over an earlier draft—which indicates that the Agencies took the many comments that they received on a draft very seriously. These Guidelines break some new ground that older Guidelines did not address, and make many positive contributions, which this paper spells out. They are also excessively nostalgic for a past era, however, and this may explain their propen sity to treat empirical questions as issues of law: This is one way to insulate these Guidelines from further revision. The excessive reliance on one decision, Brown Shoe, is unfortunate—particularly since that decision has been so often repudiated, even by the Supreme Court itself. This paper pays particular attention to: the Guidelines' treatment of structural triggers and direct measures of competitive effects; their aggressive position on potential competition mergers; their willingness to weigh a "trend" toward concentration as a factor; and their treatment of serial acquisitions. The Guidelines include a welcome new section on mergers involving multi-sided networks, although their view of networks is too one-sided; and the Guidelines also contain an expanded section on mergers with harmful effects on suppliers—including labor. The Guidelines' treatment of market definition is likely to lead to underenforcement because they define markets too broadly. Finally, the Guidelines could have made better use of recent retrospective studies—many of which would have provided further support for the substantive positions that the Guidelines take. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Calculations for 15 countries reveal falling unit costs of financial intermediation in most cases, especially where unit cost was high during the 1970s. This result coincides with the concomitant convergence of both unit cost and the deregulation index over the period: Countries with a high unit cost were initially more strictly regulated and subsequently deregulated more. Despite this, the international unit cost barely declined due to the decreasing weight of low unit cost countries in total financial production after the mid‐1980s. Focusing on the specific effect of deregulation, the econometric analysis displays a negative and significant link between deregulation change and unit cost variation. Further analyses reveal that the effect of a change in deregulation depends on banks' market power. Thus, the stagnating unit cost observed in the United States and the United Kingdom, the two largest providers of financial services, could be due to weaker deregulation reforms—deregulation was already high in these countries during the 1980s—and a concomitant reduction in competition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides direct empirical evidence that preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are consistent with the terms‐of‐trade theory. Using PTAs that occur between 2001 and 2015, we first show a PTA is associated with being more likely if countries have greater importer market power over one another. Second, using recently available tariff data for 39 bilateral PTAs, we show high levels of importer market power lead to tariff cuts that are larger in magnitude when PTAs enter into force. These results provide a rationale for why PTAs are permitted by the World Trade Organization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the continuous deepening of electricity marketization reform and the large-scale integration of clean energy into the system, the problem of transmission congestion in the power system is frequent, and research on congestion management methods has become a major focus. Therefore, this paper studies the optimization strategy of transmission congestion management in the power spot market. Firstly, the existing congestion management mechanisms were sorted out from two aspects: dynamic management mechanisms, and market steady-state mechanisms. At the same time, the advantages and disadvantages of various mechanisms were summarized. Then, optimization strategies for congestion management were proposed from three aspects: cost optimization, surplus diversion, and risk optimization. Firstly, based on the ATC reduction method and rescheduling method, a congestion cost optimization strategy is proposed. Secondly, a congestion cost pool and multidimensional allocation indicators, are established and a congestion surplus diversion strategy is proposed. Thirdly, a two-level market for transmission rights trading has been constructed to optimize congestion risk. Finally, a case study was conducted in a certain province in eastern and western China, and the results showed that: 1) Considering the rescheduling method and ATC reduction method to optimize congestion costs can reduce congestion costs by 8.22% and 18.83%, compared to only considering the scheduling method and using ATC reduction method. 2) Establishing a congestion cost pool and multi-dimensional allocation indicators to channel congestion surplus can form price guidance signals. 3) Constructing a two-level market for transmission rights trading can increase the efficiency of system operators by 62.75%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agricultural cooperatives are often promoted as a way to give farmers countervailing market power and greater income stability. This paper investigates to what extent cooperatives in food supply chains achieve these objectives. We estimate firm-level markups and markup volatility in the Italian fruits and vegetable (F&V) and dairy sectors at both the farming and processing stages for the period 2007–2014. We find mixed results: compared to non-cooperatives, F&V processor cooperatives have higher markups, while F&V farmer cooperatives and dairy processor cooperatives have lower markups. We do not find strong evidence of their role on markup volatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the case of Meta v Bundeskartellamt, where the German competition agency found Facebook's data collection policy to be in violation of German competition law. The agency argued that Facebook abused its dominant position by imposing unfair terms on users, and that the terms also violated the GDPR and infringed on users' right to informational self-determination. The European Court of Justice ruled that competition agencies can consider whether an undertaking's data collection terms comply with the GDPR when assessing conduct under competition law. The ruling establishes that data protection laws are relevant in determining if conduct qualifies as fair competition, and may extend to other regulatory tools in the future. However, there are still unanswered questions about the interpretation of Article 102 TFEU in cases involving data-based conduct. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: There is widespread belief that intermediaries in African agri-food value chains have disproportionate market power. In this paper, the authors examine this belief by uncovering the purchasing and selling prices, costs and profit margins by farmers, intermediaries and retailers in the matooke (cooking banana) value chain in Uganda, and by analysing the prevailing value chain and market structures, seasonal entry and exit dynamics and the trading relationships in the chain. Design/methodology/approach: Data for this study were collected along the trading routes from the main matooke producing districts in South-West Uganda (Kabarole, Bunyangabo, Bushenyi, Isingiro and Mbarara) to the main urban markets around the capital Kampala. A structured survey was administered with 383 producers, 172 collectors and wholesalers and 71 retailers. In addition, key informant interviews and focus group discussions were held. Findings: The authors find that price mark-ups by intermediaries (selling prices minus purchasing prices) vary with the type of intermediary, season and location but generally reflect the costs of moving matooke down the value chain to the urban consumer. The authors do not find evidence for disproportionate market power among the intermediaries in the chain. Intermediaries enter and exit the market in peak and off-peak season, such that profits are kept in check. This seasonality does imply a small shift in market power in favour of farmers in off-peak season and in favour of intermediaries in the peak season. Research limitations/implications: The investigation concentrated on an important and relatively homogenous staple crop along its main trade route. More remote areas, where there is less of an abundance of matooke, might still be characterised by local monopsonies where intermediaries have more market power due to high search and transport costs. Similarly, (local) monopsonies might exist for products for which there is a smaller market (segment), for products with a stronger seasonal variation in supply and for more perishable products. Originality/value: While there is an important literature on the role of intermediaries in African agri-food value chains, the evidence on intermediary market power is scant. Beliefs on intermediary market power are largely based on anecdotal evidence from farmers or inferred from observed prices or market structures. The paper contributes in addressing this important knowledge gap by studying the matooke value chain in Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the effects of market power on income disparities when firm‐specific parameters are considered to test how they shape the gap between capital and labor earnings through their pricing decisions. The dataset consists of 2895 UK manufacturing and services firms over 2010–2019. The results provide the following insights: (a) There is a strong positive association between market power and income disparities across the market, (b) liquidity constraints exert a positive effect on the asset‐based disparities ratio, but a negative effect on the profit‐based ratio. The robustness of the results is also checked when market‐specific characteristics are included in the process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economists have widely endorsed pricing CO 2 emissions to internalize climate change-related externalities. Doing so would significantly affect coal, the most carbon-intensive energy source. However, U.S. coal markets exhibit an additional distortion: the railroads that transport coal to power plants can exert market power. This article estimates how coal-by-rail markups respond to changes in coal demand. I identify markups in a major intermediate goods market using both reduced-form and structural methods. I find that rail carriers reduce coal markups when downstream power plant demand changes due to a drop in the price of natural gas (a competing fuel). My results imply that decreases in coal markups have increased recent U.S. climate damages by $11.9 billion, compared to a counterfactual where markups did not change. Incomplete pass-through would likely erode the environmental benefits of an incremental carbon tax, shifting the tax burden towards upstream railroads. Still, a non-trivial tax would likely increase welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The authors present a Web application they designed in the R programming language as an experiential learning tool for teaching production theory. The app simulates production decisions where a manager is tasked to find the optimal mixture of inputs through experimentation. Users of the application are instructed to use calculations and intuitions from production theory to improve profitability quickly. The underlying parameters and starting points are randomized to allow for additional practice. Variations of the exercise correspond to cost-minimization and profit-maximization problems with and without market power in the output market. Also, the app provides dynamic, interactive visualizations in 3D in order to assist in a better understanding of standard production theory graphs. The app is located at . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines market concentration's influence on popular music. The data cover popular music from weekly Billboard Hot 100 songs from 1952 to 1989, for which song characteristic data including tempo and duration is available from the Million Song Dataset (MSD). Greater market concentration of the top four artists is found to impact song length, with longer #1 songs and shorter songs in the #2 through #10 spots on the Billboard charts. However, tests for alterations in song construction by top artists that might indicate a form of "sell‐out" behavior do not reveal evidence of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the power grid undergoes transformation and the Internet's influence grows, the electricity market is evolving towards informatization. The expanding scale of the power grid and the increasing complexity of operating conditions have generated a substantial amount of data in the power market. The traditional power marketing model is no longer suitable for the modern power market's development trend. To tackle this challenge, this study employs random forest and RBF models for processing electricity market data. Additionally, it explores the synergy of graph convolutional network and spectral clustering algorithms to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of data mining, enabling a comprehensive analysis of data features. The experimental results successfully extracted various electricity consumption features. This approach contributes to the informatization efforts of power grid enterprises, enhances power data perception capabilities, and offers reliable support for decision makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The requirement of sustainable development has led to challenges for DTF (i.e., digital transformation of firms). Extensive studies have been conducted on how the personality traits of executives influence the behavior of firms. However, the effect of military experience on DTF has yet to be determined. This concern is addressed in this study from the imprinting theory (IT) and upper echelons theory (UET) perspectives. We aim to investigate whether and how military executives impact DTF. Analysis of data from listed firms in China between 2010 and 2020 indicates that military executives positively enhance DTF. This research also evaluates the moderating effects of symbiosis orientation and the market power of firms on the above relationship. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that the impact of executives' military experience on DTF is only significant in non-regulated, high-technology, and low-pollution industries. Our findings expand the literature on leadership and DTF. We introduce the concept of symbiosis orientation and examine the moderating roles of symbiosis orientation and market power in the above effect, which elucidates the interplay between organizations and the external environment. Our findings provide insights into enhancing digital transformation efforts by strategically selecting suitable military leadership for firms and further promoting the sustainable development of firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The macroeconomic implications of movements in labour income share across several economies are of serious concern. This study examines the relationship between labour income share and its key drivers: market power, capital intensity and automation. The study uses data on Indian firms from 2013 to 2021. The relationship is analysed by employing panel fixed effects and method of moments panel quantile estimators. The results indicate that market power is significantly and negatively associated with the labour share of income. Similarly, capital intensity and automation have a positive impact on the labour income share. Estimates of quantile regression reveal that the influence of market power and automation becomes more pronounced at higher quantiles of the labour share. In general, the relationship is consistent even after accounting for firm size and ownership type. The study also indicate complementary nature of labour and capital. • Examines the significance of market power, capital intensity, and automation on labour income share using firm-level data. • Finds a significant inverse relationship between market power and labour income share. • Capital and labour are found to be complementary as capital intensity has a positive effect on labour income share. • Positive and significant coefficient for automation indicates the prevalence of productivity effect in the Indian context. • Market power and automation have a greater impact on firms with higher labour share. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the evolution of productivity and markups in US food and beverage manufacturing from 1959 through 2018. We account for non‐Hicks‐neutral (labour‐augmenting) productivity changes and compare markups with those in general manufacturing using the same dataset and model. We also compare our results with those of the increasingly popular De Loecker and Warzynski (2012, American Economic Review, 102, 2437) method, which does not account for non‐Hicks‐neutral productivity growth. Empirical results show that productivity growth in the food and beverage sector has been relatively slow and driven with equal intensity by Hicks‐neutral and labour‐augmenting productivity gains. General manufacturing shows higher productivity growth that is mostly labour‐augmenting, with markups comparable to those of food manufacturing. We find that accounting for labour‐augmenting productivity produces more moderate markup estimates than the De Loecker and Warzynski (2012) method. We also find no evidence of markups rising in either food manufacturing or general manufacturing in the last 20 years, in contrast to much of the recent economic literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive quantitative approach to electricity market monitoring through the development of an effective system. The proposed system consists of three stages: operational monitoring of market participants' behavior, analysis of collective behavior and economic parameters, and midterm assessment of market competition indices. By leveraging quantitative analysis techniques, such as statistical methods, the system aims to identify patterns signaling significant changes in participants' behavior. Additionally, the system reduces the number of labor-intensive studies leading to false results, automates monitoring partially, and provides long-term analysis capabilities. Ultimately, this quantitative-based system enhances transparency, reliability, and responsiveness to unforeseen shocks in the electricity market, ensuring effective policy assessment and decision-making. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 15 studies highlighted in this special issue collectively underscore the significant impacts of market participation on farmers' well-being, income, poverty reduction, dietary diversity, and rural economic growth. They also delve into the importance of marketing channel choice and the role of e-commerce in enhancing farmers' market linkages. In addition, they address farmers' preferences for market access interventions and the examination of market power within the agricultural industry, especially in low-income countries. The key findings include: (1) Market participation is critical for improving farmers' subjective and objective well-being, with studies demonstrating positive impacts on income, poverty reduction, and dietary diversity; (2) The choice of marketing channels significantly influences income, with evidence suggesting online sales can substantially increase farmers' earnings; (3) E-commerce plays a pivotal role in connecting farmers to broader markets, leading to income growth and enhanced market visibility; (4) Understanding and addressing farmers' preferences for market access through interventions like systematization policies and joint ventures can facilitate better market integration and support inclusive business models; (5) Analysis of market power within the primary foods industry reveals rising markups, particularly affecting low-income countries. These findings suggest that policies and interventions aiming to improve market access, promote e-commerce, and consider farmers' preferences and market power dynamics can significantly impact farmers' incomes, poverty levels, and overall rural economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese government aims to balance employment stabilization and emissions reduction when it initiates an emissions trading scheme (ETS) to control carbon emissions. However, the policymakers should not neglect the role of imperfectly competitive market structure and market power from incumbent firms. In view of this, classical framework of Berman and Bui's (2001) is extended in this paper to clarify the theoretical mechanism of employment effect of the ETS considering firm-level market power. In addition, based on the firm-level panel data from 2008 to 2019 of China, the employment effect of each pilot ETS is measured with the method of difference-in-difference-in-differences. Then a moderating effect model is established to verify the role of firm-level market power on the heterogeneous employment effect among the pilot ETSs. Moreover, the employment effect is further decomposed to evaluate the influential mechanism from the perspective of firms' strategic behavior. It is found that there is negative employment effect of China's ETS policy, due to the significant moderating role of firm-level market power. This decrease in labor demand is mainly dominated by a negative output effect rather than a positive substitution effect because strategic allowance sellers with stronger market power tend to hire fewer employees to reduce carbon emissions by controlling production scale. However, the heterogeneity of policy effects resulted by market structure is also identified in different pilot regions. Employment dividend has been found in Beijing and Tianjin where strategic allowance buyers manipulate the carbon market and hire more employees to consolidate their market power. Therefore, policymakers should improve the design of the ETS to overcome the adverse employment effect duo to the region-specific market structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study estimates market power in the sugar industry of Pakistan using data from 2005 (Q1) to 2014 (Q2). The empirical estimates indicate that the demand for sugar is inelastic and that the consumption of sugar peaks during the winter season but declines in the summer. Furthermore, the results of conduct parameter suggested that the sugar mill prices exceeded the marginal cost of sugar by twelve percent, while the Lerner index sugar mill fixed prices were found to be seventy percent higher than the marginal cost. Overall, the present findings identify market power as the main factor behind the unfair consumer exploitation, in terms of regulating the high cost price margins and enabling the sugar mills to charge premium prices (above marginal cost) in Pakistan. Current findings assert the need for government to protect the local consumer by taking prudent measures against customer exploitation. In this regard, the Competition Commission of Pakistan is expected to establish an environment for fair competition through new permits for import of sugar from other countries to dismantle the monopoly of sugar mill owners in Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nachhaltigkeitsrecht is the property of Verlag Oesterreich GmbH 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.)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is widely used to boost the total market power of businesses. The wrong selection is one of the key reasons why ERP installations fail. Due to the complexity of the business environment and the range of ERP systems, choosing an ERP system is a complex and time-consuming procedure. ERP alternatives may be assessed using several criteria, so the ERP selection process may be considered a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. In this study, the rough best worst method (BWM) was used to determine criteria weights, while the newly developed rough integrated simple weighted sum product (WISP) was used to rank ERP alternatives. Results suggest that the SFT-4 coded software is regarded as the best option, followed by SFT-5, SFT-6, SFT-2, SFT-3, and SFT-1. Results of the newly developed rough WISP method are compared to those of existing rough techniques in the sensitivity analysis. The differences between them have been found to be negligible. The outcomes show how effectively developed rough BWM and WISP integrated method performs in terms of ERP selection with usability, accuracy, ease of use, and consistency. This study will help decision-makers in a context where ERP is implemented choose the best ERP software for different sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contribute to the previous offline spatial price discrimination by adding an online entrant that results in partially equalized prices, and the urban (rural) segments are served by the offline (online) firms. The presence of online competition prompts offline firms to relocate nearer to the market center. The online firm's advantage in servicing remote areas grants it market power, enabling it to mark up its prices. This leads to a shift in the equilibrium locations of firms, causing them to diverge from socially optimal positions. The magnitude of this online advantage directly influences market dynamics: a greater advantage correlates with higher online prices, a reduced dispersion of offline firm locations, and decreased offline prices in urban regions. Finally, zoning policies and two extensions of online price discrimination and multiple offline firms with free entry are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper extends the monopsony literature by taking a task-based approach and estimating the causal effect of concentration on labour market outcomes. Using detailed employer–employee data from Norway, we find that our job task-based measure shows lower degrees of concentration than conventional industry- and occupation-based measures. Exploiting mass lay-offs as exogenous shocks to local labour demand, we show that workers who experience mass separations in more concentrated markets have substantially worse subsequent labour market outcomes than workers in less concentrated markets. Our results point to the existence of employer market power that is driven by the concentration of skill demand across firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, accountability was primarily designed to hold public bodies accountable to citizens. However, as global corporations continue to shape policy and society, these organizations must be accountable to citizens in a proactive manner as well. Therefore, this article proposes an expansion of accountability to include both public and private organizations. Drawing from political and economic studies, we propose holistic principles to increase social legitimacy in both procedural (regular) and substantive (deep) forms: responsibility, transparency, answerability, and participation. To illustrate those principles, we examine two case studies, Google and Meta, and two crucial fronts, data transfers and data market power. Through qualitative and empirical analyses, we evaluate how big tech companies are being held accountable by public authorities and society, highlighting both current developments and key limitations. The article paves the road to accountability studies and new economic theories that focus on deepening social orientation and increasing citizens' participation in business management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasingly dynamic and uncertain environment in which firms operate has strengthened the need to understand how firms react to changing conditions and unpredicted events. Using the information on business model innovation collected through a unique survey on Italian manufacturing companies, we study if and how variations in the firm's competitive position in the product market, proxied by the corporate markup, prompt proactive or reactive changes in the firms' business model. Drawing upon the performance feedback approach, we find that markup variations foster business model innovation, and that the degree of family involvement shapes this influence. In particular, family firms turn out to be significantly more proactive (they react proactively to both negative and positive performance feedback) than family firms with lower family involvement and non-family firms. Interestingly, positive performance feedback encourages family firms to invest and strengthen those areas of the business model that are often considered weak in this type of company. Plain English Summary: In recent years, firms have been faced with unprecedented challenges, prompted, for instance, by increasing competition end globalization, but also by particularly adverse and unpredicted events, including the well-known COVID-19 pandemic. This strengthened the importance of understanding how companies react to unexpected changes. To tackle this issue, in this study, we assess whether firms reduce or increase the extent of innovation in their business models as a response to both positive and negative variations in their market power (proxied by their price–cost margin, or markup). Using a sample of Italian manufacturing companies and unique survey data, we show that markup variations foster business model innovation, but that this link significantly changes with the degree of family involvement. In particular, family firms stand out for their proactive response to both increases and decreases in their market power, and seem to view the improvement in their competitive position in the product market as an incentive to strengthen those areas of the business model that are often considered weak in this type of company. Hence, our study portraits a favourable account of (virtuous) family businesses which should prompt policymakers to provide adequate support to these companies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More people are listening to more recorded music than any other time in history. While record labels have largely rebounded from the lean 'Napster years' of the early 2000s, remuneration for artists remain low. This article moves beyond an investigation of label-artist contracts – largely blamed for low recording royalties – and considers the broader array of consequences brought by the institutional structure of the streaming economy. Three factors explain dynamics within the music economy: music as a non-rival, non-excludable good; digital service providers (DSPs) as interchangeable market substitutes; and the concentration of Major Label market power due to their discretion to grant or withhold catalog access to DSPs. The ultimate consequence of this market structure is to depress prices in the music economy; value that can be captured largely rests with rights holders. With the DSPs as nearly perfect substitutes, the music industry is constrained in its ability to increase its revenues. Due to market power asymmetries, the burden of this contracted market size is borne by musicians, and to a lesser extent, by DSPs. To illustrate the problematic dynamics of the music streaming economy, music is compared to another non-rival, non-excludable good with a divergent market structure and outcomes: video streaming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Supplier market power—such as the ability of branded goods suppliers to dictate terms to retailers—is an important feature of many markets. We show that supplier power can counteract the effects of downstream mergers on consumer prices where there are two-part contracts. This is because greater market power allows suppliers to set contracts that internalise partially the impact of the merger on downstream prices. Post-merger, the supplier reduces the per-unit price at which it supplies the merged downstream firms, with the aim of maintaining total industry profitability—and then recoups the profits via a larger fixed fee. We modify the standard upward pricing pressure (UPP) formula to account for the supplier's response to a horizontal merger in the downstream market, while preserving much of the simplicity of the standard approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To date, orthodox marketing has regarded markets and marketing systems as static and mechanistic rather than dynamic and emergent under the aegis of neoclassical economics. Nevertheless, today, as we transition to a post-industrial era, multiple marketing systems coexist to create consumer satisfaction. This paper, synthesizing Follett's power dichotomy with Alderson's systems approach, aims to typologize marketing systems from a political economic paradigm, which stresses the importance of power phenomena in developing an alternative marketing theory. The present paper also aims to contribute to theory from a higher-order perspective by integrating various phenomena (i.e., marketing systems and power), which have previously been addressed in a piecemeal fashion across diverse domains. The author proposes the "power-with oriented marketing system" as the ideal marketing system, which aims to facilitate resource transfers and the fair distribution of co-created value in a prosumption disposed, post-capitalist marketing era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel decomposition approach for measuring deterrence motives in dynamic oligopoly games. Our approach yields a formalized, scale-free, and interpretable measure of deterrence motives that informs researchers about the proportion for which deterrence motives account of all entry motives. In addition, the decomposition leads to a set of conditions for counterfactual analysis where hypothetical scenarios with deterrence motives eliminated can be explored. We illustrate the use of our measure and counterfactual by conducting an empirical case study about the dynamics of coffee chain stores in Toronto, Canada. The inferred deterrence motives suggest that a noticeable proportion of entry motives can be attributed to deterrence; it can be as high as 43% for the increasingly dominant coffee chain, Starbucks, in certain types of markets. Finally, counterfactual analysis confirms that deterrence motives are indeed associated with Starbucks' aggressive presence as the number of its outlets and its market share are markedly lower once these motives are eliminated. This paper was accepted by Matthew Shum, marketing. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4864. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use a real‐option model to study the effect of input supplier's market power on a firm's capital structure, and identify the Nash equilibrium outcome (firm's investment and financing policies and its supplier's pricing policy). When its supplier has market power, the firm will reduce leverage ratio and delay investment. This can help explain why observed leverage ratios are lower than in traditional capital‐structure models (without supplier market power). Firm value can be increased by the vertical acquisition of the supplier, which would also result in a higher leverage ratio. This helps explain the observed increase in leverage ratios after acquisitions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of 7 March 2024, the EU Commission began to enforce its controversial Digital Markets Act (DMA). This article sheds light on the recent debate. It lists the dos and don'ts of the DMA as well as stakeholder reactions to them before tracing some of the underlying motivations and reasoning that emerge from the EU's current policy reversal with reference to dealing with abuse of dominant positions in line with Article 102 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Following this, the paper reviews economic aspects of digital platforms, concerns about market foreclosure and essential facility as well as appropriate remedies before closing with a discussion of the challenges in stipulating and enforcing efficient rules to govern digital platforms. It is argued that the DMA ought to be rewritten to stipulate clear and cogent legal standards, return to a strengthened system of ex post control and provide platforms with the opportunity to deliver efficiency defenses as part of corporate self-regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focusses on key provisions of the Cyber Resilience Act adopted by the European Parliament in March and after a brief introduction (I.) addresses the scope (II.), the categories of products with digital elements (III.) and the obligations of their economic operators (IV.) as well as the tasks and powers of market surveillance authorities (V.) and administrative fines (VI.) before concluding in view of the remaining timeline (VII.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine the impact of product market competition on firms' systematic risk. Using a measure of total product market similarity, we document a strong negative relationship between market power and market betas. The effect more than triples in the most recent period of low competition. Anticompetitive mergers result in a significant reduction in market betas. Firms facing less competition seem to be partially insulated from systematic discount‐rate shocks. Lower equity costs therefore imply that market power is partly self‐perpetuating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the effects of bank market power on access to credit has produced many results that are sometimes contradictory. Yet, all of these studies are based on unconsolidated data that ignore the national market power of banking groups. This results in an underestimation bias that this paper proposes to correct. Using a panel of more than 55,000 French firms covering the period 2006–2017, I consider a set of structural and non-structural measures of bank market power both at the unconsolidated and consolidated levels. My results strongly support the market power hypothesis which emphasizes the virtues of competition on interest rate setting. I find that bank market power increases the interest rate charged, but only when using my consolidated measures. This effect is stronger for small and risky firms and is concentrated on long-term loans. My findings highlight the need to take into account the capital linkages of subsidiaries within the same banking group in order to fully assess the implications of bank market power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The investment decisions of energy-intensive consumers can alter the balance of supply and demand in an electricity market. In particular, they can increase the market power of incumbent generators such that prices may increase as a consequence of their investments. Whilst it is therefore intuitive that such investors will wish to consider their effects on the market, it is a challenging problem analytically and one that has been under-researched. In general, the problem can be manifest in any supply chain where demand-side investments influence endogenous price formation in the intermediate product markets. Theoretically, we show how the presence of producer market power decreases demand-side investments and then, computationally we formulate a quad-level program to model the operational implications for a demand-side investor in more detail. With an innovative reduction in complexity to a bilevel model, an efficient solution algorithm for the optimal investment by a demand-side investor is facilitated. We demonstrate computability on a small scale electricity system and the results confirm the theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]