Search results for " Econometric"

Credit risk and efficiency in the European banking system: A three-stage analysis

2002

Increased competition and the attempts of European banks to increase their presence in other markets may have affected the efficiency and credit risk in the banking system. The first aspect is the incentive in reducing costs in order to gain in competitiveness. The second is associated with their lack of knowledge of such markets and/ or acceptance of a higher risk in order to increase their market share. Despite the importance of these aspects, banking literature has usually analysed the effects of competition on the efficiency of banking systems without considering these aspects. The few studies that attempt to obtain risk adjusted efficiency measures do not consider that part of the risk…

Empirical Evidence on the Relationship between Mobile Termination Rates and Firms' Profits

2015

The theoretical literature on mobile termination rates (MTRs) is inconclusive on how the level of MTRs affects overall consumer charges and firms' profits. We show that when firms offer bundles with fixed included usage – a tariff structure that has become more common in recent years – an identical change in all MTRs does not affect firms' retail prices or profits. We use a panel dataset from saturated European markets to estimate the effect of MTRs on mobile operators' profits. As predicted by the theoretical model, we cannot reject the fact that firms' profits are unaffected by an identical change in all MTRs.

Contests with size effects

2006

In this paper we analyze the structure of contest equilibria with a variable number of individuals. First we analyze a situation where the total prize depends on the number of agents and where every single agent faces opportunity costs of investing in the contest. Second we analyze a situation where the agents face a trade-off between productive and appropriative investments. Here, the number of agents may also influence the productivity of productive investments. It turns out that both types of contests may lead to opposing results concerning the optimal number of individuals depending on the strength of size effects. Whereas in the former case individual utility is u-shaped when the numbe…

BASIC RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN VERTICAL MARKETS*

2012

This paper considers the role of basic research and development (R&D) investment in vertical markets in which an incumbent owner of a basic technological input faces potential competition. We identify the conditions under which the socially optimal investment in basic research involves entry by new firms. Our main insight is that there is a role for public investment in R&D that appears to have been overlooked in the existing literature. This role draws on the idea that basic R&D adds to the credibility of the threat of the potential development of alternative technologies by reducing their implementation costs.

EXPLANATORY FACTORS OF MARKET POWER IN THE BANKING SYSTEM

2007

The aim of the study is to analyse the explanatory factors of market power in the banking system. Using as laboratory the Spanish banking system in the period 1986–2002, results show an increase of market power from the mid-1990s. Of the set of variables that the model posits as explaining market power, those with the greatest explanatory power are size, efficiency and specialization; concentration is not significant. This last result shows the limitations of the approaches, studies and decision-making rules of economic policy that uses market concentration as a proxy for the degree of competition.

Upward and Downward Limit Pricing: The Role of Post-Entry Competition

2005

Under asymmetric information, entry-deterring strategies by an incumbent monopolist can consist of deviations from its static monopoly price through downward deviations termed downward limit pricing, or upward deviations termed upward limit pricing. Our analysis shows that the mode of post-entry competition influences the range of situations in which an incumbent adopts a strategy of downward limit pricing instead of an upward one: this range is greater under price than under output competition; it is decreasing in the degree of product differentiation; and with homogeneous product only downward limit pricing emerges under price competition, while upward limit pricing can still take place w…

2002

This paper analyses the effects of partially revocable endogenous commitments of a seller in a negotiation with a deadline. In particular, we examine when commitment is a source of strength, a source of inefficiency and when it does not affect the bargaining outcome at all. We show that when commitment possesses a minimum amount of irrevocability this crucially determines the bargaining outcome. In the bilateral bargaining case, commitment becomes a source of inefficiency since it causes a deadline effect. In the choice of partner framework, however, the deadline effect disappears and there is an immediate agreement and, moreover, commitment becomes a source of strength since it increases t…

A model of internal and external competition in a High Speed Rail line

2015

This paper is a contribution to evaluate structural and behavioral changes in railway passenger markets. The novel elements of our analysis are the following: (i) the consideration of inter-modal and intra-modal competition, (ii) the presence of public and private operators, and (iii) endogenous service frequency. After calibrating the model using actual data from two Spanish High Speed Rail lines, simulation exercises allow us to conclude the following. Privatization, whether entry occurs or not, would prompt an increase in prices and a reduction in the number of train services, eventually leading to welfare decreases, as compared with a regime where the incumbent rail operator remained pu…

El mercado mundial de vino y la competitividad de los países del Hemisferio Sur, 1961-2010

2014

<p><strong></strong>El mercado mundial del vino ha sufrido cambios intensos en las últimas décadas tras un fuerte incremento de la competitividad de los países exportadores del hemisferio sur. Su dinamismo y el aumento de la demanda de los nuevos países consumidores han acelerado el proceso de globalización del vino. En este contexto, analizamos la competencia mundial y los principales cambios en el comercio global de vinos desde 1961 hasta 2010. El artículo muestra la distribución relativa de las exportaciones en el Viejo y el Nuevo Mundo y examina la ventaja comparativa del comercio exterior a través del índice de ventaja comparativa revelada (VCR). Concluye mostrando la…

Can we be satisfied with our football team? Evidence from spanish professional football.

2009

This article assesses the sporting performance of Spanish professional football teams at competition level, namely, League, King’s Cup, and European competitions (Champions League and Union of European Football Associations [UEFA] Cup). Then, the gap between the result obtained by a team at the end of a season and that expected according to its potential is used as a proxy of the degree of satisfaction that fans should feel: the narrower the gap the greater the level of satisfaction. Regarding methodology, Data Envelopment Analysis techniques and directional distance functions are used. Results reveal that most teams perform rather differently across competitions, the lower average performa…