A Modified Yardstick Competition Mechanism

This paper analyzes a modified yardstick competition mechanism (MYC), where the yardstick employed consists of a tariff basket and total costs. This mechanism has a significant information advantage: the regulator "only" needs to observe total costs and output of all firms. The modified yardstick competition mechanism can ensure a socially optimal outcome when allowing for spatial and second degree price discrimination, without increasing the informational requirements. We also introduce regulatory lags in the model. A systematic comparison between the results of traditional yardstick regulation and modified yardstick regulation is carried out. Finally, we discuss the applicability of the mechanism.Regulation, Yardstick competition, Mechanism design, Information asymmetry

ANTITRUST DAMAGE THEORY

The law of judicial remedies deals with the nature and scope of relief afforded a plaintiff following appropriate court procedures and after establishment of a substantive right. These remedies usually fall in one of four categories: (1) damages, (2) restitution, (3) coercion and (4) declaration. This presentation will deal principally with the damages remedy, but a few thoughts regarding the use of a restitutionary remedy are introduced toward the end of these remarks.Industrial Organization,

Political Bad Reputation

The goal of this paper is to explore how the connection between political ideology and voters’ preferences is able to generate different equilibria in a yardstick competition game, where good incumbents are forced to create a bad reputation or, in other words, to mimic the bad incumbents’ behavior in order to win the elections in a two-candidate political competition.

Does the price multiplier effect also hold for stocks?

The price multiplier effect provides precious insight into the behavior of investors during episodes of speculative trading. It tells us that the higher the price of an asset is (within a set of similar assets) the more its price is likely to increase during the upgoing phase of a speculative price peak. In short, instead of being risk averse, as is often assumed, investors rather seem to be ``risk prone''. While this effect is known to hold for several sorts of assets, it has not yet been possible to test it for stocks because the price of one share has no intrinsic significance which means that one cannot say that a stock $A$ is more expensive than a stock $B$ on the basis of its price. In this paper we show that the price-dividend ratio gives a good basis for assessing the price of stocks in an intrinsic way. When this alternative measure is used instead, it turns out that the price multiplier effect also holds for stocks, at least if one concentrates on samples of companies which are sufficiently homogeneous.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, 1 table To appear in the "International Journal of Modern Physics C

FISCAL INTERACTIONS AMONG EUROPEAN COUNTRIES

In this paper we investigate whether there is empical evidence that EU Countries set their public expenditure and their taxes interdependently. We use a panel of data across european countries, years and fiscal variables to estimated countries’ reactions functions. We find evidence of intedependences consistent with the literature on tax and yardistick competitionSpatial Correlation ; Yardstick Competition ; Tax Competition

Reference Models and Incentive Regulation of Electricity Distribution Networks: An Evaluation of Sweden’s Network Performance Assessment Model (NPAM)

The world-wide electricity sector reforms have led to a search for alternative and innovative approaches to regulation to promote efficiency improvement in the natural monopoly electricity networks. A number of countries have used incentive regulation models based on efficiency benchmarking of the electricity network utilities. While most regulators have opted adopted parametric and non-parametric frontier-based methods of benchmarking some have used engineering designed ‘reference firm’ or ‘norm’ models for the purpose. This paper examines the incentive properties and other related aspects of the norm model NPAM used in regulation of distribution networks in Sweden and compares these with those of frontier-based benchmarking methods. We identify a number of important differences between the two approaches to regulation benchmarking that are not readily apparent and discuss their ramifications for the regulatory objectives and process

In Search for Yardstick Competition: Property Tax Rates and Electoral Behavior in Italian Cities

Do citizens engage in comparative performance evaluation across local governments? And if they do, how can we disentangle this behavior from other forms of strategic interactions among local governments or simple spatial correlation across neighboring jurisdictions? We use spatial econometrics techniques and the institutional characteristics of the Italian system to test if some theoretically derived predictions of yardstick competition theory are supported by data, estimating to this aim both a tax setting and a popularity equation. The results show that local tax rates are positively auto-correlated among neighboring jurisdictions when the mayors run for re-election, while this correlation is absent where either the mayors face a term limit or where they are backed by an overwhelming majority in the local council. Both results are in clear agreement with yardstick theory. On the other hand, the results of the estimation of the popularity equation are less supportive of the theory, possibly as a result of the difficulty in controlling for public service quality and the simultaneous setting of multiple policy instruments.local property tax setting, yardstick competition, spatial auto-correlation.

The development of a set of criteria for the evaluation of elementary choral material.

Thesis (M.M.E.)--Boston Universit

Sufficiency, Comprehensiveness of Health Care Coverage, and Cost-Sharing Arrangements in the Realpolitik of Health Policy

This chapter explores two questions in detail: How should we determine the threshold for costs that individuals are asked to bear through insurance premiums or care-related out-of-pocket costs, including user fees and copayments? and What is an adequate relationship between costs and benefits? This chapter argues that preventing impoverishment is a morally more urgent priority than protecting households against income fluctuations, and that many health insurance plans may not adequately protect individuals from health care costs that threaten to drop their financial status below a decent minimum. A design that places greater emphasis on preventing impoverishment and finances the achievement of that goal by reducing unnecessary subsidies to better-off households would better accord with a sufficientarian approach to health care