Enhancing the Efficiency of Water Supply: Product Market Competition versus Trade

In most developed countries, the provision of water is organized at a local level. The costs and tariffs vary significantly, even between adjacent water utilities. Such heterogeneity is an obvious indication of the sector’s overall inefficiency and stresses a need for institutional adjustments. We show that cooperation by water trade and the introduction of competition by common carriage between adjacent utilities are valuable alternatives to improve the industry’s efficiency, even when mergers are not feasible. Because both approaches require the physical connection of neighboring networks, they may have similar effects. This paper analyzes and compares the relevant welfare gains and shows that production efficiency and retail prices may differ depending on the initial cost differential, the application of regulations and the distribution of bargaining power. Using a theoretical model, we show that at higher initial production cost differentials, welfare is higher under competitive conditions, even in a lowerbound benchmark case without any regulation.Water, Networks, Product-Market Competition, Trade, Bargaining.

Non-homothetic preferences, parallel imports and the extensive margin of international trade

We study international trade in a model where consumers have non-homothetic preferences and where household income restricts the extensive margin of consumption. In equilibrium, monopolistic producers set high (low) prices in rich (poor) countries but a threat of parallel trade restricts the scope of price discrimination between countries. The threat of parallel trade allows differences in per capita incomes to have a strong impact on the extensive margin of trade, whereas differences in population sizes have a weaker effect. We also show that the welfare gains from trade liberalization are biased towards rich countries. We extend our model to more than two countries; to unequal incomes within countries; and to more general specifications of non-homothetic preferences. Our basic results are robust to these extensions.Heterogenous markups, non-homothetic preferences, parallel imports, extensive margin of trade.

Comment on the article by the Schweizerisches Komitee für Stratigraphie (SJG, Vol 102/2) What is in a stratigraphical name?

The two newly defined lithostratigraphic units - the Rohrbachstein and Plaine-Morte Beds - within the recently reinstated Grünten Member (former "Upper Orbitolina Beds") embody characteristic lithostratigraphic units, which are well distinguishable in the field. They furthermore bear significant paleoceanographic information in that they document the final drowning episode of the Schrattenkalk carbonate platform (Rohrbachstein Bed) and overlap with oceanic anoxic event 1a ("Selli event": Plaine-Morte Bed). Their use is in line with a long-standing tradition to name individual phosphate- and glauconite-containing marker beds and is fully justified with respect to the Swiss guidelines of stratigraphical nomenclature (Remane et al. 2005

Unequal Opportunities and Distributive Justice

We provide experimental evidence on how unequal access to performance enhancing education affects demand for redistribution. People earn money in a real effort experiment and can then decide how to distribute it among themselves and another subjects. We compare situations in which randomly chosen people get access to performance enhancing education with situations in which either only luck or only performance determines outcome. We find that unequal opportunities evoke a preference for redistribution that is comparable to the situation when luck alone determines the allocation. However, people with unequal access to education are more likely to disagree about the appropriate distribution.Distribution, Inequality of opportunities, Negotiation, Education, Experiment

Le « Psautier de Strasbourg »

La musique joue un rôle non négligeable dans la diffusion de la Réforme et dans la création des identités confessionnelles. Les protestants strasbourgeois avaient, dès 1524, mis en place leur propre répertoire musical pour le culte. Ce répertoire de chants qui est connu sous le nom de « Psautier de Strasbourg », est composé de chants venant de tous les coins de l’Allemagne, mais il diffère des pratiques des luthériens outre-Rhin. C’est notamment le chant des psaumes qui occupe la première place dans le culte strasbourgeois. On trouve, à côté des chants bien connus (comme ceux de Martin Luther), également des paraphrases très fidèles au texte biblique, écrites par des musiciens locaux tels Matthias Greiter et Wolfgang Dachstein. Quand Strasbourg, après la fin de l’Intérim, rejoint l’orthodoxie luthérienne, ces pratiques hymnodiques autochtones sont abandonnées au profit d’un répertoire luthérien. Seuls certains textes et mélodies survivent, grâce à leur notoriété, et connaissent par la suite un succès remarquable, par exemple dans le Psautier huguenot ou encore dans l’œuvre de Jean-Sébastien Bach. (Beat Föllmi).Music played an essential role in the popularisation of the Reformation and in the setting up of denominational identities. The Protestants in Strasbourg had published their own Church music repertoire as early as 1524, known as the “Strasbourg Psalter”, a collection of hymns from all over Germany and yet differing from the German Lutheran ritual. It is mainly the psalms that came first in the Strasbourg worship service organisation. Next to popular hymns (like Martin Luther’s) were to be found passages from the Bible faithfully rendered by local composers such as Matthias Greiter and Wolfgang Dachstein. When, after an interim period, Strasbourg decided to comply with the Lutheran orthodoxy, the former compositions were abandoned and replaced by a strictly Lutheran repertoire. Only few texts and melodies survived due to their popularity and gained a remarkable notoriety, for instance in the Huguenot Psalter or in Johann Sebastian Bach’s compositions. (trad. Pierre Boulay).Die Musik spielte eine nicht zu unterschätzende Rolle bei der Verbreitung der Reformation und der Ausbildung konfessioneller Identitäten. Die Straßburger Protestanten begannen ab 1524, für den Gottesdienst ein eigenes musikalisches Repertoire zusammenzustellen, das unter der Bezeichnung „Straßburger Psalter” bekannt ist. Seine Gesänge stammen aus dem gesamten deutschsprachigen Raum. Doch bestehen auch Unterschiede zu der Gesangspraxis jenseits des Rheins. In erster Linie ist hier der wichtige Platz zu nennen, den das Psalmsingen innerhalb des Straßburger Gottesdienstes einnimmt. Man findet neben allseits bekannten Gesängen (wie den Kirchenliedern von Martin Luther) auch Bibel treue Psalmparaphrasen, die von den in der Stadt wirkenden Musikern wie Matthias Greiter und Wolfgang Dachstein geschaffen worden sind. Als Straßburg nach dem Ende des Interims die lutherische Orthodoxie übernimmt, verschwindet die eigenständige Gesangspraktik zugunsten eines lutherischen Repertoires. Nur einige wenige Texte und Melodien überleben dank ihrer Popularität und erfreuen sich in der Folge eines beachtlichen Erfolgs, sei es im Hugenottenpsalter oder in der Musik von Johann Sebastian Bach. (trad. Beat Föllmi)

Altered carbon cycling and trace-metal enrichment during the late Valanginian and early Hauterivian

Abstract.: Carbonates of Valanginian age deposited in the Tethys and Atlantic Oceans show a distinct positive δ13C excursion (Δ δ13C = 1.5‰-2‰) in sections of the neritic, hemipelagic, and pelagic environment. This excursion records a major climate-induced perturbation of the global carbon system. The δ13C excursion is accompanied by enrichments in manganese (Mn) and iron (Fe). The correlation of the δ13C excursion with trends in Mn and Fe contents reflects changes in Valanginian paleoceanography and climate. Fe enrichment occurs mainly in terrestrial, platform, and shelf regions. In a basinal direction the Fe content decreases, whereas the Mn/Fe ratio increases. An increase in sedimentary Mn and Fe concentrations is related to elevated continental weathering rates and to widespread dys- or anoxia that favored metal deposition in Valanginian sediments. Various oceanographic changes (e.g., expansion of oxygen-minimum zones) resulting from increased continental runoff led to a strong remobilization and focused reprecipitation of metals in the oceans of the Valanginian stag

Unequal Opportunities and Distributive Justice

There is well established empirical evidence that more redistribution occurs when luck rather than performance determines the earnings. We provide experimental evidence on how unequal access to performance enhancing education affects demand for redistribution. In this experiment, we can control the information about the role of luck and effort. We find that unequal opportunities evoke a preference for redistribution that is comparable to the situation when luck alone determines the allocation rather than performance. Furthermore, unequal opportunities reduce performance incentives.Distribution, Inequality of opportunities, Negotiation, Education, Experiment