Competitive Cross-Subsidization

Cross-subsidization arises naturally when firms with different comparative ad- vantages compete for consumers with diverse shopping patterns. Firms then face a form of co-opetition, being substitutes for one-stop shoppers and complements for multi-stop shoppers. Competition for one-stop shoppers then drives total prices down to cost, but firms subsidize weak products with the profit made on strong products. While firms and consumers would benefit from cooperation limiting cross- subsidization (e.g., through price caps), banning below-cost pricing instead increases firms’ profits at the expense of one-stop shoppers; this calls for a cautious use of below-cost pricing regulations in competitive markets

Lack of neurotrophin-4 causes selective structural and chemical deficits in sympathetic ganglia and their preganglionic innervation

Neurotrophin-4 (NT-4) is perhaps the still most enigmatic member of the neurotrophin family. We show here that NT-4 is expressed in neurons of paravertebral and prevertebral sympathetic ganglia, i.e., the superior cervical (SCG), stellate (SG), and celiac (CG) ganglion. Mice deficient for NT-4 showed a significant reduction (20-30%) of preganglionic sympathetic neurons in the intermediolateral column (IML) of the thoracic spinal cord. In contrast, neuron numbers in the SCG, SG, and CG were unchanged. Numbers of axons in the thoracic sympathetic trunk (TST) connecting the SG with lower paravertebral ganglia were also reduced, whereas axon numbers in the cervical sympathetic trunk (CST) were unaltered. Axon losses in the TST were paralleled by losses of synaptic terminals on SG neurons visualized by electron microscopy. Furthermore, immunoreactivity for the synaptic vesicle antigen SV2 was clearly reduced in the SG and CG. Levels of catecholamines and tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity were dramatically reduced in the SG and the CG but not in the SCG. Despite this severe phenotype in the sympathetic system, blood pressure levels were not reduced and displayed a pattern more typical of deficits in baroreceptor afferents. Numbers of IML neurons were unaltered at postnatal day 4, suggesting a postnatal requirement for their maintenance. In light of these and previous data, we hypothesize that NT-4 provided by postganglionic sympathetic neurons is required for establishing and/or maintaining synapses of IML neurons on postganglionic cells. Impairment of synaptic connectivity may consequently reduce impulse flow, causing a reduction in transmitter synthesis in postganglionic neurons

Financial diversification before modern portfolio theory: UK financial advice documents in the late nineteenth and the beginning of the twentieth century

The paper offers textual evidence from a series of financial advice documents in the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century of how UK investors perceived of and managed risk. In the world’s largest financial centre of the time, UK investors were familiar with the concept of correlation and financial advisers’ suggestions were consistent with the recommendations of modern portfolio theory in relation to portfolio selection strategies. From the 1870s, there was an increased awareness of the benefits of financial diversification - primarily putting equal amounts into a number of different securities - with much of the emphasis being on geographical rather than sectoral diversification and some discussion of avoiding highly correlated investments. Investors in the past were not so naïve as mainstream financial discussions suggest today

The complete incremental cost test for cross-subsidies with a sub-modular cost function

Incremental cost, Stand-alone cost, Cross-subsidy, Sub-modular, D24, L11, L13, L51, L59,

Voting on prices : the political economy of regulation

SIGLEAvailable from INIST (FR), Document Supply Service, under shelf-number : DO 5270 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

New visions, old practices: policy and regulation in the internet era

Raymond Williams’ comment applies as much to the media and communication systems of his time as it does to today’s Internet era. As Silverstone (2007: 26) wrote, “mediated connection and interconnection define the dominant infrastructure for the conduct of social, political and economic life across the globe”. The Internet is no more a neutral configuration of technologies than was the earlier media and communication system. If there are forces that are shaping the Internet’s development in ways that are not equitable then there is a case for countering them. This paper offers an assessment of current trends in policy and regulation that bear on the Internet. The aim is to discern whether visions of a post-neoliberal period are visible in policy and regulatory practice in this area. Though some argue that developments in Internet governance are beginning to wrest control of the Internet away from state or private sector influence, I suggest that this is a very one-sided view. In this paper, I argue that the forces influencing Internet developments are not benign because an unregulated Internet is unlikely to maximise the benefits of the Internet for all. This paper focuses on corporate interests in the Internet’s evolution and on the state’s role in regulating various components of the infrastructure and services that employ the Internet. The following section considers the paradoxical alliance between the neoliberal agenda and the advocates of the open unregulated Internet. The impact of the neoliberal agenda on the telecommunication, broadcast and Internet segments of the media and communication industry is then considered briefly, providing a basis for a more in-depth consideration of the incentives encouraging corporate actors to engage in monopolisation strategies as a means of maximising their profits. In the penultimate section, the likelihood of a shift to policy based on a post-neoliberal paradigm is explored through an examination of some recent developments in network infrastructure, broadcast content and radio frequency spectrum policy