Investment specificity, vertical integration and market foreclosure

In this paper we consider the impact of vertical integration on a retailer's choices of product variety and specific, brand-supporting investment. In an incomplete contract environment, vertical merger encourages investment in integrated supply, and foreclosure of non-integrated manufacturers. Anti-competitive as opposed to efficiency interpretations depend delicately on a trade-off between the benefits of supplier-specific rather than generally applicable retailer investment, and the value of multi-product rather than single product retailing. Where retailers compete, it is shown that vertical integration implements competition reducing, product differentiating investment strategies.incomplete contracts,vertical integration,monopolization

Markov or not Markov - this should be a question

Although it is well known that Markov process theory, frequently applied in the literature on income convergence, imposes some very restrictive assumptions upon the data generating process, these assumptions have generally been taken for granted so far. The present paper proposes, resp. recalls chi-square tests of the Markov property, of spatial independence, and of homogeneity across time and space to assess the reliability of estimated Markov transition matrices. As an illustration we show that the evolution of the income distribution across the 48 coterminous U.S. states from 1929 to 2000 clearly has not followed a Markov process.

Ethik und wirtschaftliches Handeln in der modernen Gesellschaft: Ordnung, Anreize und Moral

Wirtschaftlicher Erfolg und moralische Akzeptanz der Wirtschafts- und Gesellschaftsordnung spielen für deren Stabilität und evolutorische Effizienz eine zentrale Rolle. Der Sozialismus hat beides, Erfolg und Akzeptanz, nicht bewirken können. Demgegenüber hat die Marktwirtschaft unbestreitbar wirtschaftlichen Erfolg. Ordnung, Anreize und Moral stehen zwar gerade in der Marktwirtschaft in einem engen, unauflösbaren Zusammenhang, gleichwohl fällt es vielen schwer, sich mit dem marktwirtschaftlichen System zu identifizieren — wirklicher moralischer Respekt bleibt ihm häufig versagt. Vor allem der Wettbewerbsprozeß stößt bei vielen Menschen auf Kritik. Ihnen ist eine moralische Position fremd, die auf Eigeninteresse aufbaut und die Moral in erster Linie durch eine angemessene Gestaltung des Ordnungsrahmens zu verwirklichen sucht. In einer pluralistischen Welt kann jedoch individuelles moralisches Bewußtsein nicht das alleinige und nicht einmal das grundlegende Steuerungselement sein. Es bedarf vielmehr einer Koordination über allgemeine Regeln und Institutionen. Weil Menschen systematisch auf die von dem Regelwerk ausgehenden Anreize reagieren, ist immer wieder zu prüfen, ob von den Regeln die richtigen Signale ausgehen, um das individuelle Handeln in eine gesellschaftsverträgliche Richtung zu lenken... --

Regional concentration of FDI involves trade-offs in post-reform India

P. Chidambaram, India’s Minister of Finance, claimed that “FDI worked wonders in China and can do so in India.” However, China’s example may also point to the limitations of foreign direct investment (FDI) liberalization in promoting the host country’s economic development. FDI in China is heavily concentrated in the coastal areas, and previous studies have suggested that this has contributed to the increasing disparity in regional income and growth since the late 1970s. The regional concentration of FDI tends to go hand in hand with agglomeration of economic activity in general and, presumably, domestic investment as well. Conversely, FDI-related spillovers, which are crucially important in order for FDI to have positive effects on growth, have a spatial dimension—i.e., their impact weakens with distance

FDI 区域集聚引发印度后改革时代的利益权衡

印度财政部长 P. Chidambaram 称“FDI 在中国创造了奇迹，在印度也同样可以 。”然而，中国的范例也反映出外商直接投资（FDI）自由化在促进东道国经济 发展方面的局限性。中国的 FDI 高度集中于沿海地区，先前的研究表明这一现 象进一步加剧了始于 70 年代末的地区收入和增长不平衡。 通常，FDI 的区域集聚与经济活动以及国内投资的集聚是密切相关的。相反， FDI的溢出效应——能极大地促进FDI对发展的积极作用——有一个空间维度， 换言之，它们的影响随距离的增加而减弱

Neue Wege der Kooperation: Schleswig-Holstein und Hamburg in einer gemeinsamen Wirtschaftsregion.

Wirtschaftsraum; Regionalpolitik; Regionale Konzentration; Kooperation; Wirtschaftsstruktur; Hamburg (Region); Schleswig-Holstein;

Clinical Features of Electric Powered Indoor/Outdoor Wheelchair Users with Spinal Cord Injuries : A Cross-Sectional Study.

This article aims to describe the characteristics of those with a primary diagnosis of spinal cord injury (SCI) attending a specialist wheelchair service providing electric powered indoor/outdoor chairs (EPIOCs). This cross-sectional study, with retrospective review of electronic and case note records, explores the complexities of additional clinical features associated with SCI and disability influencing prescription. Data were extracted under three themes; demographics, diagnostic/clinical information and wheelchair factors. There were 57 participants (35 men, 22 women) (mean age 53.51±11.93, range 29-79 years) comprising 20 with paraplegia, 34 with tetraplegia, and 3 with undocumented level. Paraplegics were significantly older than tetraplegics (p<0.05). Thirty users had a complete SCI (mean age 49.87 ±12.27 years) and 27 had another SCI lesion (mean age 57.56 ±10.32 years). Those with a complete SCI were significantly younger than the rest (p<0.02). Only 10 (9 tetraplegic) had SCI as the sole diagnosis. Twenty (15 tetraplegic) had one additional clinical feature, 14 had 2-3 (6 tetraplegic) and 13 (4 tetraplegic) had 4 or more. Ten users required specialised seating, 22 needed tilt-in-space EPIOCs while six required complex controls. The range and complexity of wheelchair and seating needs benefitted from a holistic assessment and prescription by a specialist multidisciplinary team

Epidermal Stem Cells Are Defined by Global Histone Modifications that Are Altered by Myc-Induced Differentiation

Activation of Myc induces epidermal stem cells to exit their niche and differentiate into sebocytes and interfollicular epidermis, a process that is associated with widespread changes in gene transcription. We have identified chromatin modifications that are characteristic of epidermal stem cells and investigated the effects of Myc activation. Quiescent stem cells in the interfollicular epidermis and the hair follicle bulge had high levels of tri-methylated histone H3 at lysine 9 and H4 at lysine 20. Chromatin in both stem cell populations was hypoacteylated at histone H4 and lacked mono-methylation of histone H4 at lysine 20. Myc-induced exit from the stem cell niche correlated with increased acetylation at histone H4 and transiently increased mono-methylation at lysine 20. The latter was replaced by epigenetic modifications that are largely associated with chromatin silencing: di-methylation at histone H3 lysine 9 and histone H4 lysine 20. These modifications correlated with changes in the specific histone methyltransferases Set8 and Ash-1. The Myc-induced switch from mono- to di-methylated H4K20 required HDAC activity and was blocked by the HDAC inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA). TSA treatment induced a similar epidermal phenotype to activation of Myc, and activation of Myc in the presence of TSA resulted in massive stimulation of terminal differentiation. We conclude that Myc-induced chromatin modifications play a major role in Myc-induced exit from the stem cell compartment