Revenue Sharing, Demand Uncertainty, and Vertical Control of Competing Firms

This paper argues that revenue sharing is a valuable instrument in vertically separated industries when there is intrabrand competition among the downstream firms, demand is stochastic or variable, and downstream inventory is chosen before demand is realized. In these environments, the upstream firm would like to simultaneously soften downstream competition and encourage efficient inventory holding. Traditional two-part tariffs cannot achieve both objectives in the presence of downstream competition. Raising the price of the inputs softens price competition but distorts the downstream firms' inventory decisions. We argue that revenue sharing, combined with a low input price, aligns the incentives in the vertical chain. The use of revenue sharing in video rental retailing is discussed. Blockbuster in particular has used revenue sharing in conjunction with heavy marketing of availability to grow significantly in the video rental retail industry. Many other outlets use revenue sharing as well. Some antitrust concerns have been raised by smaller firms suggesting that revenue sharing might be an anticompetitive vertical restraint. Although our model does not address retailer market power, we show that revenue sharing contracts can be used by upstream firms increase inventory holding and consumer welfare.

'There's a Black Boy Dead and a Migloo Holding a Gun': Death, Aboriginality and History in Australian Adolescent Literature

In 'Preying on the past: Contexts of some recent neo-historical fiction', Peter Pierce argues that, over the last five or so decades, Australian historical fiction has turned away from 'unconstrained and idealistic affirmations about Australia's future' to empathise instead with those figures in the historical landscape who were previously marginalised: 'victims of imperialism, patriarchy, racism, capitalism' (1992, p.307). This trend is particularly applicable to historical literature for younger readers, which now often tries to renegotiate history by providing a counterpoint to the metanarratives of the past (Stephens 2003, xii-xiii). Reflecting and responding to developments in the disciplines of historiography and, more generally, the humanities, texts in this genre are representative of the attempt to interrogate monolithic versions of Australian history - often called the 'three cheers' view - in which positivity, achievement and the peaceful settlement of the nation are key themes. At issue in these novels is thus the redressing of past wrongs, particularly with respects to the violent aspects of colonisation when so many members of the Indigenous population either died or were forcibly displaced. Each of the three adolescent novels I focus upon in this paper - Melissa Lucashenko's 'Killing Darcy' (1998), Gary Crew's 'No Such Country' (1991) and Mark Svendsen's 'Poison Under Their Lips' (2001) - is equally idiosyncratic in its approach to narrativising Australia's problematic colonial past

Moroney v. Young, 138 Nev. Op. 76 (Nov. 23, 2022)

When a plaintiff timely moves for an extension of the service period under NRCP 4(e)(3), the district court must consider the Scrimer factors. This includes factors that relate to the plaintiff’s diligence in attempting service and to any circumstances beyond the plaintiff’s control that may have resulted in the failure to timely serve the defendant. The Court addressed which factors are to be applied when a district court considers a timely motion to extend the service period for a summons and complaint. The Court had previously articulated the relevant factors to determine whether a plaintiff has shown good cause for filing an untimely motion to extend the time for service of process. The Court concluded that the same factors apply to timely motions

Over Her Dead Body: Expelling the Monstrous-Feminine in Touching Earth Lightly

In lieu of abstract, here is the first paragraph of the article: Death and sex/uality are inextricably linked in the Western cultural imagination. The French slang term for ‘orgasm’ (la petite mort) is said to literally translate as ‘little death’, for instance, while the ‘sex-leading-to-death’ motif is pervasive in narrative and aesthetic representations. Although not always consciously articulated, throughout history the most fundamental taboos on human behaviour have also been those concerned with death and sexual functions (McNay 1994, p.41). Much of the work of cultural theorists Sigmund Freud, Georges Bataille and Julia Kristeva intersects around this idea as well. Freudian psychoanalytic theory is based upon the notion that the psychic life of the subject is governed by two antagonistic biological or instinctual urges—one toward reproduction, and the other toward destruction. In Bataille’s view, the framework of the law that shapes the subject (the processes of socialisation) is associated with the expulsion of the ‘accursed share’—that portion of the self that is bodily and material: forbidden eroticism (incest), excrement, and death (the return to material nature of human life) (Rivkin & Ryan 1998, p.337). An ‘aura of death is what denotes passion’, Bataille contends (1986, p.20) because at the same time that humanity pushes death away by trying to exclude what is horrifying, it is drawn (or desires) to approach what threatens (Hegarty 2000, pp.61-62).2 Kristeva makes a similar claim when she argues that erotic pleasure emerges as a symbolic response to the uncontainable threat of mortality. For Kristeva, the erotic is both a reaction to the threat of castration and an attempt to sustain life itself in the face of death (Tanner 1996)

Shaping National Identity: Representations of the Ocean in some Australian Texts

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The Law and Economics of Habitat Conservation: Lessons from an Analysis of Easement Acquisitions

There is a growing interest in incentive-based policies to motivate conservation by landowners. These policies include full- and partial-interest land purchases, tax-based incentives, and tradable or bankable development rights. Using legal and economic analysis, this paper explores potential pitfalls associated with the use of such policies. Incentive-based policies promise to improve the cost effectiveness of habitat preservation, but only if long-run implementation issues are meaningfully addressed. While the paper compares conservation policies, particular attention is devoted to the use of conservation easements and in particular a set of easement contracts and transactions in the state of Florida. The easement analysis highlights the importance of conservation policies' interactions with property markets, land management practices, and bureaucratic incentives. Specific challenges include difficulties associated with the long-term enforcement and monitoring of land use restrictions, the lack of market prices as indicators of value for appraisal, and the way in which incentives target specific properties for protection.