Downstream labeling and upstream price competition

The paper analyses the economic consequences of labeling in a setting with two vertically related markets. Labeling on the downstream market affects upstream price competition through two effects : a differentiation effect and a ranking effect. The magnitude of these two effects determines who in the supply chain will receive the benefits and who will bear the burden of labeling. For instance, whenever the ranking effect dominates the differentiation effect, the low quality upstream firm loses from labeling while all downstream actors are individually better off. By decreasing the low quality input price, the label acts then as a subsidy which assures an increase of the downstream market welfare. This analysis furthers our understanding of the economic consequences of the public labeling in cases like restaurants or GMOs.LABEL;IMPERFECT CONSUMER INFORMATION;VERTICAL PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION;VERTICAL RELATIONS;REGULATION

On the use of labels in credence goods markets

We analyze credence goods markets in the case of two firms. Consumers know that the quality of the good varies but do not know which firm is of high quality. First, we show that the high quality producer may be unable to monopolize the market, or even to survive in some cases, in situations where it is efficient and trusted by all consumers. Second, although a label restoring full information improves welfare, it may also reduce both firms? profits by intensifying competition. Since even the high quality producer may not wish to label its product, in such cases the label must be mandatory. Third, an imperfect label which moves everybody?s beliefs closer to the truth without restoring full information may produce adverse results on market structure and welfare, either by increasing or by reducing the variance of beliefs.CREDENCE GOODS;INCOMPLETE INFORMATION;QUALITY;LABEL;DIFFERENTIATION

Seemingly competitive food retail regulations : who do they really help ?

The food distribution and retail sectors in Quebec are highly concentrated and integrated as large food distributors are also involved in food retailing. As such, they are competing with small grocery and convenience stores they sell inputs to. A review of the industry suggests that there are important economies of size in distribution, but that smaller stores offering convenience face a more inelastic demand. Concerns over the survival of smaller stores in Quebec have motivated two types of regulations. The first type aims at reducing the cost advantage of dominant retailers by restricting the number of employees that they are allowed to use during specific time periods. The second type restricts retail prices. We develop a simple model capturing the main features of the industry to ascertain the impact of these regulations on retail and wholesale prices. Our results suggest that these regulations reduce welfare and may induce both tighter margins and lower surplus for small retailers.

Credence goods, experts and risk aversion

The existing literature in expert-customer relationship concludes that when: i) consumers are homogenous, ii) consumers are committed with an an expert once this one made a recommendation, and iii) the type of treatment provided is verifiable, an expert finds optimal to serve efficiently his customers. This work shows that the previous result may not occur when consumers are not risk-neutral. Our result, that holds in a monopoly setting and under Bertrand competition, suggests that risk averse consumers have more likely to be mistreated by experts.CREDENCE GOODS;EXPERT SERVICES;RISK AVERSION

Optimization and testing of dried antibody tube: The EuroFlow LST and PIDOT tubes as examples

Within EuroFlow, we recently developed screening tubes for hematological malignancies and immune deficiencies. Pipetting of antibodies for such 8-color 12-marker tubes however is time-consuming and prone to operational mistakes. We therefore evaluated dried formats of the lymphocytosis screening tube (LST) and of the primary immune deficiency orientation tube (PIDOT). Both tubes were evaluated on normal and/or on patient samples, comparing the mean fluorescence intensity of specific lymphocyte populations. Our data show that the dried tubes and liquid counterparts give highly comparable staining results, particularly when analyzed in multidimensional plots. In addition, the use of dried tubes may result in a reduced staining variability between different samples and thereby contributes to the generation of more robust data. Therefore, by using ready-to-use reagents in a dried single test tube format, the laboratory efficiency and quality will be improved

Belgian rare diseases plan in clinical pathology : identification of key biochemical diagnostic tests and establishment of reference laboratories and financing conditions

BackgroundOne objective of the Belgian Rare Diseases plan is to improve patients' management using phenotypic tests and, more specifically, the access to those tests by identifying the biochemical analyses used for rare diseases, developing new financing conditions and establishing reference laboratories.MethodsA feasibility study was performed from May 2015 until August 2016 in order to select the financeable biochemical analyses, and, among them, those that should be performed by reference laboratories. This selection was based on an inventory of analyses used for rare diseases and a survey addressed to the Belgian laboratories of clinical pathology (investigating the annual analytical costs, volumes, turnaround times and the tests unavailable in Belgium and outsourced abroad). A proposal of financeable analyses, financing modalities, reference laboratories' scope and budget estimation was developed and submitted to the Belgian healthcare authorities. After its approval in December 2016, the implementation phase took place from January 2017 until December 2019.ResultsIn 2019, new reimbursement conditions have been published for 46 analyses and eighteen reference laboratories have been recognized. Collaborations have also been developed with 5 foreign laboratories in order to organize the outsourcing and financing of 9 analyses unavailable in Belgium.ConclusionsIn the context of clinical pathology and rare diseases, this initiative enabled to identify unreimbursed analyses and to meet the most crucial financial needs. It also contributed to improve patients' management by establishing Belgian reference laboratories and foreign referral laboratories for highly-specific analyses and a permanent surveillance, quality and financing framework for those tests

Labeling by a private certifier and public regulation

This paper considers the effects of labels in a duopolistic market. A label certifies the level of some characteristics of a product. It is shown that under a private certifier, the certification level falls short of both profit maximization for the labeling firm and social welfare maximization. Then, different Government policies aimed to improve on the private certifier outcome are analyzed. (i) If public certification is offered, in competition to private, the private certifier will increase the certification standard of his label and welfare will be improved - even though no firm adopts the public label. (ii) A per unit tax on the unlabeled product and a subsidy to the labeled one, which are often observed or advocated, are shown here to lead to unintended results, while (iii) an ad valorem tax can increase welfar