The myth of price convergence under economic integration: A proposed explanation for the difference in food prices across European countries

Conventional globalization theory states that regional economic integration will precede price standardization across participating countries due to the increased buying power of large retail groups and parallel imports. The resulting price corridor should merely reflect differences in logistic costs and short-term, local competitive actions. Yet, this study uses panel data from 25 European countries to examine how hefty food and beverage price differentials between regions remained constant over the last decade. Income, store productivity, and market concentration all contribute to the explanation for regional price differences. These findings suggest that, contrary to straight-line globalization theory, large European retailers’ decisions can influence price convergence and maintain important price dispersion between economically integrated countries. We provide recommendations to enhance market integration.     

The politics of the Digital Single Market: culture vs. competition vs. copyright

This paper examines the implications for European music culture of the European Union’s (EU) Digital Single Market strategy. It focuses on the regulatory framework being created for the management of copyright policy, and in particular the role played by collective management organisations (CMOs or collecting societies). One of the many new opportunities created by digitalisation has been the music streaming services. These depend on consumers being able to access music wherever they are, but such a system runs counter to the management of rights on a national basis and through collecting organisations which act as monopolies within their own territories. The result has been ‘geo-blocking’. The EU has attempted to resolve this problem in a variety of ways, most recently in a Directive designed to reform the CMOs. In this paper, we document these various efforts, showing them to be motivated by a deep-seated and persisting belief in the capacity of ‘competition’ to resolve problems that, we argue, actually lie elsewhere – in copyright policy itself. The result is that the EU’s intervention fails to address its core concern and threatens the diversity of European music culture by rewarding those who are already commercially successful.     

Public housing into private assets: Wealth creation in urban China

State socialist economies provided public housing to urban citizens at nominal cost, while allocating larger and better quality apartments to individuals in elite occupations. In transitions to a market economy, ownership is typically transferred to existing occupants at deeply discounted prices, making home equity the largest component of household wealth. Housing privatization is therefore a potentially important avenue for the conversion of bureaucratic privilege into private wealth. We estimate the resulting inequalities with data from successive waves of a Chinese national income survey that details household assets and participation in housing programs. Access to privatization programs was relatively equal across urban residents in state sector occupations. Elite occupations had substantially greater wealth in the form of home equity shortly after privatization, due primarily to their prior allocations of newer and higher quality apartments. The resulting gaps in private wealth were nonetheless small by the standards of established market economies, and despite the inherent biases in the process, housing privatization distributed home equity widely across those who were resident in public housing immediately prior to privatization.     

从国际视野看研究生教育成本分担

在西方国家,研究生交费入学,即生均教育成本分担被视为必然现象。如何联系我国研究生教育发展的实际,积极借鉴发达国家发展研究生教育的经验,把制订研究生教育成本分担与资助政策作为推进我国研究生教育运行机制改革的有效手段,已成为人们关注的焦点。建议在构建我国研究生教育投资主体多元化与资助政策的过程中,积极引进政策调节与市场竞争相结合的机制;实行研究生教育成本分担与资助的政策措施要与高校内部管理体制的改革有机结合起来。     

国内市场一体化对出口技术复杂度的影响及作用机制

本文从中国经济特有优势出发,系统梳理和归纳了国内市场一体化影响出口技术复杂度的理论机制,并利用中国2003-2016年30个省份（西藏除外）的面板数据,构建中介效应模型,对理论预期进行了实证检验。研究结果表明：国内市场一体化显著促进了出口技术复杂度的提升,并且随着时间的推移,这种促进作用逐渐增强。市场一体化对出口技术复杂度的影响存在行业及区域差异性。市场一体化对技术密集型行业出口技术复杂度的提升作用最为突出。内陆地区的市场一体化系数显著为正,而沿海地区市场一体化的正向影响效应不显著。市场一体化除了直接对出口技术复杂度发挥促进作用,还可以通过技术创新效应、需求驱动效应、制度改进效应等机制促进出口技术复杂度提升,其中技术创新的中介效应最为有效。本文的研究结论对中国推进国内统一大市场建设,实现贸易强国目标和经济转型发展具有借鉴意义。     

产权市场的外资并购分析

并购活动包括目标甄选、交易实施和企业整合三大步骤。由于证券市场的局限性和场外交易的风险性,产权市场将会成为外资并购理想的主要交易场所。文章以交易实施中的交易市场作为研究对象,重点阐述了外资并购在产权市场中的情况、问题和对策。     

客源信息缺失是制约旅游业发展的短板

重视对客源市场信息的了解,才算了解“市场导向”的真实内涵,深入了解客源市场需求,是解决目前旅游市场营销中种种不足与弊端,促使旅游业健康发展的根本。     

丹麦劳动力市场模式分析

丹麦劳动力市场模式是近年来国际劳动力市场模式中非常成功的一种模式,日益受到国际社会的关注。“丹麦模式”的基本特征是将灵活化的劳动力市场、慷慨的福利制度与积极的劳动力市场政策有机结合在一起构成了一个“金三角”,成功地平衡了劳动力市场的灵活性与安全性。丹麦劳动力市场模式以其传统的价值理念、良好的社会合作机制和混合经济体制为基础。随着全球化时代社会经济条件的变化,丹麦劳动力市场模式也面临着严峻的挑战。     

产品差异化对市场结构的影响分析——基于演化经济学的观点

以双占垄断为例,产品差异化对市场结构的影响具有以下几个方面:(1)完全垄断可能是同质产品竞争的结果;(2)尽管产品差异化不能排除完全垄断的存在,但是从长期看,它极大增加了厂商共存的可能性;(3)产品差异化程度越大,双占寡头的结构越稳定。     

Non-tariff barrier on chicken imports into Russia: Impact on production,trade and prices

We analyze the Russian restriction on chicken imports as an example of a non-tariff barrier (NTB). Cointegration test results support the hypothesis that the NTB limited trade. We calibrate an equilibrium market model to cointegration results to assess the market impact. The tariff equivalent of the Russian chicken NTB is estimated to be 30 − 40% depending on the representation of consumer demand. Removing the NTB decreases domestic production by 4–5% and domestic price by 27%–34%, while imports increase by 326–423 thousand tons annually in 2015–2019.