Quantity Competition in Networked Markets Outflow and Inflow Competition

This paper investigates how quantity competition operates in economies in which a network describes the set of feasible trades. A general equilibrium model is presented in which prices and .ows of goods are endogenously determined. In such economies equilibrium dictates whether an individual buys, sells or does both (which is possible). The first part of the analysis provides sufficient conditions for pure strategy equilibrium existence; characterizes equilibrium prices, flows and markups; and details negative effects on welfare of changes in the network structure. The main contributions show that goods do not cycle, since prices strictly increase along the supply chains; that not all connected players with different marginal rates of substitution trade; and that adding trading relationships may decrease individual and social welfare. The second part of the analysis provides necessary and sufficient conditions for a networked economy to become competitive as the number of players grows large. In this context it shown that no economy in which goods are resold can ever be competitive; and that large well connected economies are competitive.

Analysis of the revenue-sharing contract under different power structures with application in the biodiesel niche market

Master'sMASTER OF ENGINEERIN

From supply chains to demand networks. Agents in retailing: the electrical bazaar

A paradigm shift is taking place in logistics. The focus is changing from operational effectiveness to adaptation. Supply Chains will develop into networks that will adapt to consumer demand in almost real time. Time to market, capacity of adaptation and enrichment of customer experience seem to be the key elements of this new paradigm. In this environment emerging technologies like RFID (Radio Frequency ID), Intelligent Products and the Internet, are triggering a reconsideration of methods, procedures and goals. We present a Multiagent System framework specialized in retail that addresses these changes with the use of rational agents and takes advantages of the new market opportunities. Like in an old bazaar, agents able to learn, cooperate, take advantage of gossip and distinguish between collaborators and competitors, have the ability to adapt, learn and react to a changing environment better than any other structure. Keywords: Supply Chains, Distributed Artificial Intelligence, Multiagent System.Postprint (published version

Illiquidity and All Its Friends.

The recent crisis was characterized by massive illiquidity. This paper reviews what we know and don't know about illiquidity and all its friends: market freezes, fire sales, contagion, and ultimately insolvencies and bailouts. It first explains why liquidity cannot easily be apprehended through a single statistics, and asks whether liquidity should be regulated given that a capital adequacy requirement is already in place. The paper then analyzes market breakdowns due to either adverse selection or shortages of financial muscle, and explains why such breakdowns are endogenous to balance sheet choices and to information acquisition. It then looks at what economics can contribute to the debate on systemic risk and its containment. Finally, the paper takes a macroeconomic perspective, discusses shortages of aggregate liquidity and analyses how market value accounting and capital adequacy should react to asset prices. It concludes with a topical form of liquidity provision, monetary bailouts and recapitalizations, and analyses optimal combinations thereof; it stresses the need for macroprudential policies.

THE GROCERY RETAILING SECTOR IN GERMANY: ECR ACTIVITIES IN COMPARISON TO THE USA

The German food retail sector and food manufacturers are in a state of transition due to a complex mix of technological and market forces. Competition continues to increase due to sluggish demand and increasing consumer mobility. The high degree of domestic and international concentration increases the intensity of competition. The top 20 food retailers obtain far more than two-thirds of total sales. Because of the increased competition among retailers, the number of retail stores will continue to decline. Food manufacturers fear the buying power of retailers in many ways. Distrust and struggle over the terms of trade characterize the relation between retailers and manufacturers. ECR activities in Germany lag behind relative to the US due to various cultural and procedural differences as well as strategic reasons. However, ECR provides a catalog of measures to achieve more efficiency and customer focus.Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Essays on Credit, Macroprudential Regulation, and Monetary Policy

This dissertation consists of four essays that investigate the economic consequences of frictions in credit markets and the implications for macroprudential and monetary policies. The first essay addresses the following question: How do excessive debt holdings on borrower balance sheets impede economic activity? To address this question, we estimate a non-linear panel threshold model on a large-scale panel data set for euro area non-financial corporates. We account for non-linearities in the debt-investment link and find that excessive corporate leverage negatively affects firm investment if the debt-to-asset ratio exceeds 80 to 85 percent. These non-linearities are economically meaningful and robust across firm size, sector, and profitability, and were aggravated during the European sovereign debt crisis. The second and third essay address the following questions: How does the presence of unregulated shadow banks affect credit markets and the economy? What implications follow for prudential regulation and monetary policy? In the second essay, we develop a quantitative New Keynesian DSGE model for the euro area and estimate the model with full-information Bayesian techniques. We show that changes in bank capital requirements lead to credit leakage between shadow and commercial banks, and that monetary policy can partly mitigate undesired leakage to the shadow banking sector when banking regulation is tightened. In the third essay, I turn to the optimal design of macroprudential regulation when credit is intermediated by traditional banks and unregulated shadow banks. I derive welfare loss functions and show that both cyclical variations and inefficient levels of credit have welfare implications. Regulators face a trade-off related to the composition of credit when deciding on optimal regulation. I find that they lower capital requirements more strongly under optimal policy in response to adverse shocks that trigger credit leakage to risky non-banks. Furthermore, the optimal static level of capital requirements is lower once shadow banks are considered. In the fourth essay, we address the following question: How much do market participants gain from a European Deposit Insurance Scheme (EDIS)? To this end, we develop an open-economy regime-switching DSGE model with bank default and study the effectiveness of EDIS in comparison to national fiscal policies. We find that reinsurance by both national fiscal policy and EDIS is effective in stabilizing the macro economy, even though welfare gains are slightly larger with EDIS and debt-to-GDP ratios rise under fiscal policy reinsurance. We demonstrate that risk-weighted contribution to EDIS are welfare-beneficial and discuss policy trade-offs during the implementation of EDIS

Global dynamic E-marketplaces, and their role in the internet-based economy

Collaboration capabilities are what will most probably create the gap between winners and losers in business-to-business (B2B) commerce. In this context, the electronic marketplace (EM) comes as a medium for trade and collaboration, and a common entry point where partners can share business processes and adopt a decentralized business model fuelled by market evolution. The thesis illustrates the advantages of collaborative business and presents the information technologies that support it. The purpose of this thesis is to educate both the author and the reader on the technology and infrastructure that supports collaborative business and to posit that among the three major information technology infrastructures that enable B2B commerce, the EM model provides significant advantages for individual companies and industries compared to Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P). The thesis identifies key tools and value-added services EM\u27s should provide their participants to meet the requirements of modern companies and the Internet-based economy. Finally, the thesis suggests potential impacts of EM\u27s on the modern business ecosystem

Reverse logistics pricing strategy for a green supply chain: a view of customers’ environmental awareness

The effectiveness of a reverse logistics strategy is contingent upon the successful execution of activities related to materials and product reuse. Green supply chain (GSC) in reverse logistics aims to minimize byproducts from ending up in landfills. This paper considers a retailer responsible for recycling and a manufacturer responsible for remanufacturing. Customer environmental awareness (CEA) is operationalized as customer word-of-mouth effect. We form three game theoretic models for two different scenarios with different pricing strategies, i.e. a non-cooperative pricing scenario based on Stackelberg equilibrium and Nash equilibrium, and a joint pricing scenario within a cooperative game model. The paper suggests that stakeholders are better off making their pricing and manufacturing decision in cooperation