Suchergebnisse

This thesis was set out to analyse the application of competition law on unfair pricing related to the abuse of dominant positions in the European Community and the Republic of Lithuania. Firstly, the study gives a definition of unfair pricing and identifies four types of such pricing: excessive pricing, "predatory" pricing, discriminatory pricing and unfair discounts and rebates. Then, it overviews the practice of the European Court of Justice, the European Commission and the Competition Council and the administrative courts of the Republic of Lithuania in hearing cases on unfair pricing. The author then lists the fundamental rules that may help to distinguish between fair and unfair pricing. The third chapter indicates the main problems faced when applying these rules in practice. The last chapter gives an overview of the application of competition law on unfair pricing following Lithuania's accession to the EU. The author also analyses the effectiveness and quality of the implementation of competition policy and presents the fundamental judgements on and interpretations of unfair pricing in relation to the abuse of dominant positions.

European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth. European Union countries have implemented widespread reforms to productmarkets in order to stimulate competition, innovation and economic growth. We provideempirical evidence that the reforms carried out under the EU Single Market Programme(SMP) were associated with increased product market competition, as measured by areduction in average profitability, and with a subsequent increase in innovation intensityand productivity growth for manufacturing sectors. In our analysis we exploit exogenousvariation in the expected impact of the SMP across countries and industries to identify theeffects of reforms on average profitability, and the effects of profitability on innovationand productivity growth.

While it is widely believed that electoral competition influences public spending decisions, there has been relatively little effort to examine how recent democratization in the developing world has resulted in changes in basic service provision. There have been even fewer attempts to investigate whether democracy matters for public spending in the poorest developing countries, where "weak institutions" may mean that the formal adoption of electoral competition has little effect on policy. In this article I confront these questions directly, asking whether the shift to multiparty competition in African countries has resulted in increased spending on primary education. I develop an argument, illustrated with a game‐theoretic model, which suggests that the need to obtain an electoral majority may have prompted African governments to spend more on education and to prioritize primary schools over universities within the education budget. I test three propositions from the model using panel data on electoral competition and education spending in African countries. I find clear evidence that democratically elected African governments have spent more on primary education, while spending on universities appears unaffected by democratization.

Germany is the second largest coffee market in the world, just overshadowed by the United States. Coffee is the most popular beverage in Germany - in fact more popular than beer. In 1999 the five biggest companies in the raosted coffee market had a combined market share of 84.5%. The market is characterized by fierce competition which continues to squeeze the earnings of the German coffee roasters. The degree of competition was expected to increase even more as a result of a merger in 1997. This paper examines the pricing behavior in the German market for roasted coffee. The second question is whether the degree of competition has changed due to changes in market structure and changes in demand. Changes in market structure are the merger of Tchibo and Eduscho in 1997. Changes in demand are cyclical demand fluctuations - every year before Easter and Christmas. Empirical results are derived using data on the aggregate market for roasted coffee in Germany during 1992:1 to 2000:12 and indicate that the market is suffering on not only a severe price competition, but on price war.

This paper uses a Darwinian perspective to examine the nuclear arms race in the context of "arms races" in evolution and throughout human history. The rise of human "arms races," or escalatory intergroup competition, is traced to a variety of environmental triggers initiated during the Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene. These triggers removed extraspecific environmental constraints to escalatory intergroup competition in some areas of the world, making it reproductively advantageous for individuals to live in increasingly larger and more competitive groups. This process is linked to the development of social complexity and the intensification of intergroup competition, warfare, and arms production, culminating in the nuclear arms race. Historically, escalatory intergroup competition has been reproductively advantageous to elites because it enables them to acquire a disproportionately large share of resources. It is argued that the continuation of the nuclear arms race past a level of mutual assured destruction results from the benefits it provides to elites as well as a variety of evolved behavioral mechanisms that encourage in-group affiliations, out-group hostilities, and obedience to authority.

In two studies 200 subjects played repeated trials of Prisoner's Dilemma with a simulated other who could send verbal communications. In the first study, the other began intensifying conflict by being behaviorally unresponsive over a long duration, by being totally noncooperative, by responding more quickly to the competition than the cooperation of the subject, or by coercing cooperation with threats for the purpose of exploitation. Then the other introduced a program of carefully communicated conciliation. The results showed a significant increase in cooperation by the subjects across conditions. In the second study, the subjects' competition was intensified by the other's choice of verbal communication—threat, insult, or challenge. Then the other introduced conciliation; the subjects responded cooperatively in all cases. Finally, the other lapsed into uncommunicated competition, and the subjects became highly competitive once more. The results are discussed in terms of Deutsch's (1983) "crude law of social relations" and the evidence suggesting that an atmosphere of either cooperation or competition can be quickly altered in a situation of interdependence when one party clearly acts inconsistently with what is characteristic of that climate.

This study explores several methodological areas that may account for in consistency in basketball study findings concerning the cohesion-performance relationship. An average team score for each item and factor appearing on a cohesion questionnaire was calculated for 18 youth teams (ages 10-16) and 17 teams composed of college men (ages 19—22). Both univariate and multivariate relationships between 2 measures of team success and team scores for cohesion items were identified and compared in each age level of competition. The study findings indicate (a) measures of team success, affiliation cohesion, and satisfac tion with team achievements are interrelated in both levels of competition; (b) the magnitude of relationships increased significantly in both the youth and mens teams when moving from simple to multiple correlational techniques; (c) the magnitude of multiple relationships did not differ among each measure of team succcess separately; (d) the magnitude of multiple correlations did not increase when computing canonical correlations in either level of competition; and (e) the magnitude of relationships were not a function of the number of teams in each level of competition.

Como parte del debate acerca del objetivo fundamental de la defensa de la competencia, este artículo confronta las concepciones doctrinales que han tenido sobre el tema la escuela de Chicago —en defensa de la eficiencia económica— y la escuela de Harvard —que atribuye a la protección del ecosistema competitivo una función social que excede la argumentación económica—. El documento realiza, del mismo modo, una valoración acerca de la relación inflexible que existe entre la protección al consumidor y las normas antitrust, estima el alcance de erigir aquella como finalidad última y universal del Derecho de la competencia, y comprueba, gracias a la normativa surgida en Estados Unidos, la Unión Europea y Colombia, así como también a la jurisprudencia, que la prioridad de legisladores y falladores en los territorios elegidos es salvaguardar por medio de las normas antitrust, los intereses de los consumidores. ; As part of the debate on the fundamental objective of defending competition, this article compares the concepts in the Chicago school doctrine on the subject -in defense of economic efficiency- and the Harvard School doctrine, which attributes a social function to protecting the competitive ecosystem that goes beyond the economic argument. The inflexible relationship that exists between consumer protection and antitrust laws is assessed, and the scope of making consumer protection the ultimate and universal purpose of the law on competition is calculated. thanks to the regulations that have emerged in the United states, the European Union and Colombia, and in light of case law, the article confirms the priority of lawmakers and those who hand down rulings or judgments in the selected regions is to safeguard the interests of consumers through antitrust rules and regulations. ; Como parte do debate sobre o objetivo fundamental da defesa da concorrência, este artigo confronta as concepções doutrinais que têm tido a Escola de Chicago (em defesa da eficiência econômica) e a Escola de Harvard (que atribui à proteção do ecossistema competitivo uma função social que excede a argumentação econômica). Este documento realiza, do mesmo modo, uma avaliação acerca da relação inflexível que existe entre proteção do consumidor e as normas antitruste, e estima o alcance de erigir aquela como finalidade última e universal do direito da concorrência; além disso, comprova, graças à normativa surgida nos Estados Unidos, na União Europeia e na Colômbia, assim como à jurisprudência, que a prioridade de legisladores e sentenciadores nos territórios eleitos é salvaguardar, por meio das normas antitruste, os interesses dos consumidores.

The conflict of interests arising from the existence of legal norms guaranteeing consumers access to food product information and regulations requiring proper labelling of food products marketed within the European Union is discussed. While food producers tend to restrict information of the product if it might discourage consumers from buying it, consumers want to be given information on the ingredients of the food they buy. Customers in Spain are protected by the existing legal regulations against unfair practices of food producers, but the conclusion of the discussion presented in the paper is that current regulations are insufficient and fail to efficiently stop agricultural and food producers from breaching the law in that matter. ; L'articolo tratta del conflitto di interessi intercorrente tra le norme giuridiche che gar-antiscono al consumatore il diritto all'informazione su un dato prodotto agricolo, e quelle legate all'obbligo di una corretta etichettatura dei prodotti agroalimentari commercializzati all'interno dell'Unione europea. Da un lato infatti gli imprenditori che producono prodotti agroalimentari tengono a presentare il loro prodotto nel modo più conveniente possibile. Pertanto essi tendono a contenere il più possibile le informazioni in grado di scoraggiare il consumatore dall'acquisto. Dall'altro, invece, il consumatore tiene a ricevere informazioni più accurate possibili riguardo agli ingredienti contenuti nel prodotto. Come sottolineato dall'autrice l'ordinamento giuridico spagnolo protegge il consumatore contro le pratiche commerciali sleali, ma nella maggior parte dei casi l'attuale regolazione risulta essere inefficace, essa non impedisce ai produttori agricoli e agli imprenditori di violare la legge nell'ambito in oggetto. ; 16 ; 1 ; 245 ; 263 ; 13 ; Przegląd Prawa Rolnego

The recent backlash against free trade is partially motivated by the decline in manufacturing employment due to rising import competition from China. Previous studies about the "China syndrome" neglect the role of trade policy. This is surprising, given that politicians in high-income countries have extensively used antidumping (AD) measures to protect their economies from rising Chinese imports. In this paper, I estimate the causal effect of trade protection on imports and employment, by constructing a new instrument for AD measures based on industries' importance in swing states and experience in filing AD petitions. I show that AD duties have reduced import competition, decreasing the annual growth rate of US imports from China by 0.40 percentage points on average. They have also helped contain the China syndrome, by increasing the annual growth rate of employment in protected industries by 0.07 percentage points. These results show that protectionist instruments allowed under GATT/WTO rules can be used to attenuate the effects of import competition on employment. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The European project has enjoyed a substantive support from both elite and masses in Portugal. Since the country joined the ECC, in 1986, the main political parties have been strong supporters of Europe. In recent years, however, political and economic crises have undermined the support for the European project. In this paper we produce a preliminary analysis of the competition dimensions in the 2014 European elections. We empirically analyze the position of the five most important Portuguese political parties towards European integration, the Euro, debt renegotiation, Eurobonds, and changes in pensions in a context that fosters contestation of European integration and its outputs. Adapted from the source document.