Low cost carriers, secondary airports and State aid: an economic assessment of the Charleroi affair

In this paper a vertical differentiation model is built in order to analyse the effects of subsidies to secondary airports, or of lower prices set by them, on the competition between LCC’s and FSC’s. The Ryanair/ Charleroi agreement is used as an example and as a basis for the model. The main findings are that subsidisation (or lower airport charges) benefits consumers and negatively affects incumbent airlines. However, they may be more affected by competition than by the subsidy. An empirical analysis provides a few insights on LCC’s price strategies, namely that they retain rents resulting from lower aeronautical fees on dominated airports, and that their price strategy does not change with the presence of other LCC’s.Low cost carriers, airports, airline competition, State aid.

Does Airport Regulation Benefit Consumers?

Airport regulation is aimed to impose price caps or other schemes on services supplied by airports to airlines that use them. However, it is not clear that regulation benefits the final consumers, the passengers. In the context of a very simple model, this paper finds out that this doesn’t always happen, and that passengers may be worse off with price capping than in an unregulated equilibrium. Besides, the paper provides an insight of the results of other regulation approaches (other than price caps) that have been suggested for airports.

Vertical Contracts between Airports and Airlines: is there a Trade-off between Welfare and Competitiveness?

Airports and airlines have been increasingly establishing vertical contracts, which have a wide variety of forms. These contracts have important implications for policy issues, namely for regulation and price discrimination legislation. In this paper we develop a model to analyse the effects of three types of vertical contracts, in what regards welfare, pro-competitiveness and the scope for regulation. We find that two types of contracts are anti-competitive, and that in all of them consumers are better-off, though in one of them within conditions regarding operational efficiency. We also conclude that regulation may (or may not) improve welfare depending on the type of contract and that price capping has different effects according to the facility the price of which is capped. Moreover, we find that these agreement’s effects exhibit a trade-off between pro-competitiveness and welfare and between price discrimination and welfare.vertical contracts, regulation, airports, airlines.

Competition in complementary goods: Airport handling markets and Council Directive 96/67/EC

This paper addresses the case of complementary services with vertical relations. Using the example of airport handling activities, we develop a model to investigate the effects on welfare and competitiveness of four different handling market situations. We find out that the usual Cournot result on welfare when firms compete in complementary goods is verified unless there are efficiency gaps between the firms, or if vertically related firms also compete on the same market. We also find that the presence of a horizontally integrated firm may lead to market foreclosure. Moreover, we add a few remarks on regulatory issues, where we show that regulation may be pointless or even anti-competitive. In particular, we show that Council Directive 96/67/EC, while intending to increase competition, may lead to anti-competitive situations and consumers surplus decreases.Complementary goods competition; airport handling; vertical relations.

Do Low Cost Carriers Have Different Corporate Governance Models?

In this paper, we investigate whether different business models in the same industry (passenger air transportation) lead to different corporate governance models. We found that low cost carriers (LCCs) organise their boards differently from full service carriers (FSCs), in order to achieve lower costs and the faster decision-making process that is required by their business model. We also found that LCCs and FSCs solve their potential agency cost problems differently. FSCs have more board committees in order to monitor management, and LCSs have a closer coincidence of interests between shareholders and management.corporate governance, low cost carriers

Does market concentration of downstream buyers squeeze upstream suppliers’ market power?

Using a theoretical model, we examine both the relationship between a downstream dominant firm’s market share and an upstream monopoly’s Lerner index and the relationship between upstream and downstream price elasticities of demand, in a regulated industry context. We undertake an empirical study that confirms our theoretical predictions, namely that the market share of a leader downstream firm is significant in explaining the upstream producers’ Lerner indexes. Also in accordance with the results of the theoretical model, the Lerner index is negatively influenced by the competition that suppliers face and by the level of economies of density, amongst other variables.vertical relations, buyers’ market power

Horizontal Merger and Vertical Differentiation

The effects of merger have usually been examined in the context of homogeneous goods, and are unambiguously established. This paper deals with merger in vertically differentiated industries, presenting two models, one with two firms, and one with three firms. Results depend on the number of previous firms in the industry, and on the qualities produced by the merging firms. However, some results about the welfare effects of merger differ from the standard ones, which is mainly due to the nature of competition in a vertical differentiation set.Merger, vertical differentiation.

A propósito da racionalidade camponesa: universalidade de comportamentos ou graus de racionalidade?

While studying Peasant Ractionality, one comes across to problems which mostly relate to Instrumental Rationality. This article explores such problems, and analyses those (few) approaches to Instrumental Rationality that defy the Maximization thesis. Then, some clues for the understanding of Peassant Rationality are provided.Ao estudar a Racionalidade Camponesa, depara-se, sobretudo, com problemas do âmbito da Racionalidade Instrumental. Este artigo explora tais problemas, e analisa as (poucas) abordagens da Racionalidade Instrumental quo desafiam a tese da Maximização. Finalmente, são fornecidas algumas pistas para a compreensão da Racionalidade Camponesa

Salários e empregos na indústria do transporte aéreo portuguesa

Using a large matched employer-employee data set with information at both the worker and the company level we characterise the Portuguese airlines' employment structure and, by comparing it with the general structure of the Portuguese labour force, we stress the particularities of the sector. Based on the Heckman selection model, we develop an analysis of the variables that influence wages in this sector and which contribute to its differentiation from the general labour market. Particular attention is paid to the disparity among different types of jobs in the air transportation sector, namely amongst flight crews and land personnel. We also analyse the differences between regular and non-regular sub-sectors. Our main findings indicate that the aviation sector labour force is clearly specific regarding gender distribution and human capital accumulated by its workers. Moreover, some professions, pilots in particular, have important specificities compared to other jobs even within the sector. We also find that wages are strongly influenced by levels of education, tenure and experience as well as professional categories, which appears as an important specificity of this sector. Usando uma grande base de dados com correspondência empregador-empregado com informações tanto ao nível do trabalhador quanto da empresa, caracterizamos a estrutura de emprego das companhias aéreas portuguesas e, por meio de comparação com a estrutura geral da força de trabalho portuguesa, destacamos as particularidades do setor. Com base no modelo de seleção de Heckman, desenvolvemos uma análise das variáveis que influenciam os salários neste setor e que contribuem para a sua diferenciação do mercado de trabalho em geral. É dada atençao especial para a disparidade entre os diferentes tipos de empregos no setor de transporte aéreo, ou seja, entre os tripulantes e o pessoal de terra. Analisamos também as diferenças entre os subsetores de aviação regular e não-regular. Nossos principais resultados indicam que a força de trabalho no setor de aviação é claramente específica quanto à distribuição de gênero e de capital humano acumulado por seus trabalhadores. Além disso, algumas profissões, pilotos em particular, têm especificidades importantes em comparação com outros tipos de trabalhos, mesmo dentro do setor. Também apontamos para evidências de que os salários são fortemente influenciados pelos níveis de escolaridade, senioridade e experiência bem como pelas categorias profissionais, que aparecem como uma especificidade importante deste setor. Document type: Articl

Trombocitopenia e ausência de radio (sindrome TAR): caso clínico

A síndroma de TAR (Mckusik 274000) é uma entidade autossómica recessiva caracterizada por anomalias dos membros, particularmente ausência de rádio associada a trombocitopenia hipomegacariócitica. Os autores descrevem uma criança com síndrome de TAR diagnosticado ao nascimento, com trombocitopenia grave (20 x 109/l), associada a ausência bilateral de rádio. No primeiro ano de vida a contagem de plaquetas situou-se entre 10 e 20 x 109/l com sintomatologia hemorrágica cutânea intermitente. Aos 4 meses ocorreu uma hemorragia subdural em contexto traumático que obrigou a intervenção neurocirurgica urgente. A melhoria da trombocitopenia após o primeiro ano possibilitou a realização de cirurgia ortopédica no sentido da melhoria funcional e estética das deformidades. Actualmente com 6 anos de idade, apresenta boa evolução estaturoponderal com desenvolvimento psicomotor adequado. Não apresenta sintomatologia hemorrágica sendo a contagem média de plaquetas de 60 X 109/l. Os autores discutem a possibilidade de um programa transfusional profilático de plaquetas alternativo à opção conservadora que foi decidida nesta criança