Suchergebnisse

The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board administers the purchase and sale of wine and spirits and is mandated to charge a uniform 30% markup on all products. We use an estimated discrete choice model of demand for spirits, together with information on wholesale prices, to assess the implications of this policy. We find that failure to account for the correlation between demographics and consumption patterns leads to lower prices than those charged by a profit-maximizing, multi-product monopolist. Using product-specific markups leads to higher prices on average, less quantity consumed, an 11% increase in total profits, and greater welfare. The current one-size-fits-all pricing rule ignores variations in demand elasticities resulting in the implicit taxation of high-income and educated households by raising the prices of spirits they prefer (vodka and whiskey) while lowering the price of products favored by low-income and minority households (gin and rum).

This paper discusses the design of an optimal, time-consistent tariff to protect an infant-industry in the presence of learning effects. Firms decide how much to produce, taking into account learning effects induced by their current production and the tariff policy, while the government decides on the level of tariff protection. In order to ensure time consistency we solve the symmetric case without spillovers where learning leads to lower fixed costs. Assuming that domestic and foreign products are imperfect substitutes for each other but perfect substitutes within each group, we use a complete linear demand system to represent domestic consumers' preferences. The analytic Markov Perfect Equilibria of this game is derived by solving a linear-quadratic differential game. It is shown that in equilibrium, only a declining tariff over time can be regarded as a time-consistent tariff policy.

This paper addresses an optimal tariff design to protect an infant-industry in the presence of learning effects. Firms decide how much to produce, taking into account learning effects induced by their current production, while the government decides on the level of tariff protection. In order to include different levels of bargaining power for each group of agents, each component of the welfare function is weighted with these weights taken as given. We solve the symmetric case without spillovers and fixed cost reduction due to accumluated output. Assuming that domestic and foreign production are imperfect substitutes for each other but perfect substitutes within each group, we use a complete linear demand system to represent domestic consumers' preferences. The analytic Markov Perfect Equilibria of this game is derived by solving a linear-quadratic differential game. The optimal tariff policy is characterized and compared to Spain's tariff policy on Iron and Steel for 1913.

AbstractEconomic integration agreements have significantly decreased import tariffs. We investigate whether national policies can be an effective replacement for tariffs to protect domestic industry. We show that (a) European fuel taxes and vehicle emissions policy favored diesel vehicles, a technology popular with European consumers but largely offered only by domestic automakers; (b) European automakers benefited from pro‐diesel fuel taxes and a lenient NOx emissions policy to earn significant profits from diesel cars; and (c) that both policies amounted to significant nontariff trade policies equivalent to an import tariff between two to three times the official rate.

Liberalization of the European automobile distribution system in 2002 limits the ability of manufacturers to impose vertical restraints, leading to a substantial increase in competitive pressure among dealers. We estimate an equilibrium model of profit maximization to evaluate how dealers change their innovation adoption strategies following the elimination of exclusive territories. Using French data we evaluate the existence of complementarities between the adoption of software applications and the scale of production. Firms view these innovations as substitutes and concentrate their effort in one type of software as they expand their scale of production. Results are robust to the existence of unobserved heterogeneity. (JEL D24, K21, L21, L22, L62, O32)

Under Medicare Part D, senior citizens choose prescription drug insurance offered by numerous private insurers. We examine nonpoor enrollees' actions in 2006 and 2007 using panel data. Our sample reduced overspending by $298 on average, with gains by 81 percent of them. The greatest improvements were by those who overspent most in 2006 and by those who switched plans. Decisions to switch depended on individuals' overspending in 2006 and on individual-specific effects of changes in their current plans. The oldest consumers and those initiating medications for Alzheimer's disease improved by more than average, suggesting that real-world institutions help overcome cognitive limitations. (JEL D14, G22, H51, I13, I18)

"Dieses Papier bietet eine strukturelle Interpretation der Schätzungen der Form
und Position nichtlinearer Tarife. Dabei konzentrieren wir uns auf die Bewertung
von Preisaufschlägen und müssen daher zunächst die Grenzkosten in einem
Gleichgewichtsmodell nicht-linearen Preiswettbewerbs identifizieren. Wir
schätzen diese Preisaufschläge, indem wir Quartalsdaten der jungen
Mobilfunkindustrie der U.S.A. zwischen 1984 und 1988 verwenden. Die
Ergebnisse deuten darauf hin, dass die Aufschläge in einem Duopol aufgrund
signifikanter Grenzkostenreduktion größer sind. Außerdem lässt sich feststellen,
dass die Preisaufschläge über die Konsumniveaus variieren und dass Nutzer im
Niedrigsegment ('low-end') höhere Preisaufschläge zu tragen haben als 'highend'-Nutzer. Der Einfluß des Wettbewerbs vergrößert noch die Preisaufschläge im 'low-end'-Bereich im Vergleich zum 'high-end'. In diesem Sinne profitieren die 'high-end'-Nutzer mehr vom Wettbewerb, der sich vor allem in gesteigerten Effizienzen positiv niederschlägt. Diese Ergebnisse sind robust, wie gezeigt
werden kann, sogar wenn eine Reihe beobachtbarer Marktnachfrage- und Kostenvariablen hinzugefügt wird." (Autorenreferat)