A Game Theoretic Analysis of Parallel Trade and the Pricing of Pharmaceutical Products

We develop a simple double marginalization model with complete information, in which an original manufacturer of a pharmaceutical product faces potential competition from parallel imports by a foreign exclusive distributor. The model suggests that parallel imports will never occur in the sub-game perfect Nash equilibrium, as it will always be beneficial for the manufacturer to monopolize the home country by undercutting the price of the reimported pharmaceutical product. However, the question as to whether it is optimal for the manufacturer to charge the monopoly price in the home country depends on the level of trade costs and the level of heterogeneity of the two countries, in terms of market size and price elasticity of demand.For the purpose of further research, this paper suggests the introduction of asymmetric information with regard to local demand functions, in order to explain why parallel trade may actually occur in equilibrium.

An Analysis of the Welfare Effects of Parallel Trade Freedom

In a double marginalization model which is played between a domestic monopolistic manufacturer of pharmaceuticals and a foreign exclusive distributor, I examine the impact of parallel trade freedom on the manufacturer's profit. I also analyze its impact on global welfare for low, intermediate, and high trade costs and different levels of heterogeneity of the two countries where the manufacturer and the distributor are located.The model suggests that parallel trade - provided that it is a credible threat - reduces the profit of the manufacturer and thus reduces his incentives to invest in R&D. If, however, trade costs are high, parallel trade is a non-credible threat as it is not a worthwhile business activity for the foreign distributor and thus does not have any impact on the profit of the manufacturer.The model shows that parallel trade has positive welfare properties if the two countries are sufficiently heterogeneous in terms of market size and if trade costs are intermediate and low, respectively. If, however, the countries are virtually homogenous in terms of market size, parallel trade may be detrimental to global welfare for specific levels of trade costs.parallel trade, pharmaceuticals, R&D incentives, welfare effects, economic,

Copyright and Open Access for Academic Works

In a recent paper, Prof. Steven Shavell (see Shavell, 2009) has argued strongly in favor of eliminating copyright from academic works. Based upon solid economic arguments, Shavell analyses the pros and cons of removal of copyright and in its place to have a pure open access system, in which authors (or more likely their employers) would provide the funds that keep journals in business. In this paper we explore some of the arguments in Shavell’s paper, above all the way in which the distribution of the sources of journal revenue would be altered, and the feasible effects upon the quality of journal content. We propose a slight modification to a pure open access system which may provide for the best of both the copyright and open access worlds.Open Access, Academic Works, Effects of Removal of Copyrights

The Google Book search settlement: A law and economics analysis

Beginning in December 2004 Google has pursued a new project to create a book search engine (Google Book Search). The project has released a storm of controversy around the globe. While the supporters of Google Book Search conceive the project as a first reasonable step towards unlimited access to knowledge in the information age, its opponents fear profound negative effects due to an erosion of copyright law. Our law and economics analysis of the Book Search Project suggests that – from a copyright perspective – the proposed settlement may be beneficial to right holders, consumers, and Google. For instance, it may provide a solution to the still unsolved dilemma of orphan works. From a competition policy perspective, we stress the important aspect that Google’s pricing algorithm for orphan and unclaimed works effectively replicates a competitive Nash-Bertrand market outcome under post-settlement, third-party oversight.Book Rights Registry; Competition Policy; Copyright; Fair Use; Google Book Search; Library Program; Orphan Works

Does Parallel Trade Freedom Harm Consumers in Small Markets?

Countries can freely decide whether to permit or ban parallel trade. Article 6 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) – being the only provision in the various international agreements on intellectual property rights that deals with the treatment of parallel trade – preserves the territorial privilege for regulating parallel trade. In a parallel trade model with two heterogeneous countries in terms of market size, we address the question as to whether parallel trade freedom is beneficial or detrimental from a consumer’s perspective. In particular, the model suggests that parallel trade freedom is detrimental to consumers in the country with the smaller market as less of a certain product is sold at a higher price. However, parallel trade freedom is likely to be beneficial to consumers in the country with the larger market. We also find that the smaller country, in terms of market size, will remain unserved under parallel trade freedom if the second country is sufficiently attractive in terms of market size

Does Parallel Trade Freedom Harm Consumers in Small Markets?

Countries can freely decide whether to permit or ban parallel trade. Article 6 of the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS Agreement) – being the only provision in the various international agreements on intellectual property rights that deals with the treatment of parallel trade – preserves the territorial privilege for regulating parallel trade. In a parallel trade model with two heterogeneous countries in terms of market size, we address the question as to whether parallel trade freedom is beneficial or detrimental from a consumer’s perspective. In particular, the model suggests that parallel trade freedom is detrimental to consumers in the country with the smaller market as less of a certain product is sold at a higher price. However, parallel trade freedom is likely to be beneficial to consumers in the country with the larger market. We also find that the smaller country, in terms of market size, will remain unserved under parallel trade freedom if the second country is sufficiently attractive in terms of market size

Residual Antimicrobial Effect of Chlorhexidine Digluconate and Octenidine Dihydrochloride on Reconstructed Human Epidermis

The objective of the present investigation was to examine the residual antimicrobial activity after a topical exposure of reconstructed human epidermis (RHE) to equimolar solutions of either chlorhexidine digluconate (CHG, 0.144% w/v) or octenidine dihydrochloride (OCT, 0.1% w/v) for 15 min. RHE-associated antiseptic agents were more effective on Staphylococcus aureus than on Pseudomonas aeruginosa. S. aureus was not detected after 24 h of contact, which demonstrated a microbicidal efficacy of greater than 5-log10 reduction. In contrast, P. aeruginosa was reduced by approximately 2 log10 at the same incubation time, which parallels the growth of the initial inoculum. This result could be interpreted either as a microbiostatic effect or as an adherence of P. aeruginosa to a low positively charged surface. Small amounts of CHG and OCT can penetrate the stratum corneum. Using these antiseptic agents, the viability of keratinocytes was reduced to 65-75% of that of the untreated RHE control following 24 h incubation in the presence of test microorganisms. With consideration of antimicrobial activity and cytotoxic effect, OCT corresponds better to a biocompatible antiseptic agent than CHG

Analyse und Bewertung ausgewählter zukünftiger Biokraftstoffoptionen auf der Basis fester Biomasse

Etwa ein Drittel des Gesamtendenergieverbrauchs entfällt auf den Transportsektor, dessen Energieverbrauch zu rund 98 % über fossile Kraftstoffe (maßgeblich Mineralöl) abgedeckt wird [70], [71], [91]. Gleichzeitig ist der Transportsektor eine der Hauptursachen für den Ausstoß anthropogener Treibhausgasemissionen. Mobilität (insbesondere von Personen und Gütern) ist für die gesellschaftliche und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung unverzichtbar und nach wie vor ein überdurchschnittlich wachsender Bereich [103]. Weltweit wird sich die Anzahl der Kraftfahrzeuge von ca. 700 Mio. Personenwagen im Jahr 2000 auf etwa 1,3 Mrd. Personenwagen im Jahr 2030 nahezu verdoppeln; gleiches gilt für den damit einhergehenden Verbrauch an Endenergie [302]. Hingegen wird in Deutschland von einem um 9 % sinkenden Energieverbrauch gegenüber 2005 auf 2 EJ/a im Jahr 2030 ausgegangen; in den Mitgliedsstaaten der EU-27 hingegen wird ein Anstieg um 14 % gegenüber 2005 auf 17,7 EJ/a im Jahr 2030 erwartet [71], [72]. [... aus der Einleitung

Nucleation at finite temperature beyond the superminispace model

The transition from the quantum to the classical regime of the nucleation of the closed Robertson-Walker Universe with spacially homogeneous matter fields is investigated with a perturbation expansion around the sphaleron configuration. A criterion is derived for the occurrence of a first-order type transition, and the related phase diagram for scalar and vector fields is obtained. For scalar fields both the first and second order transitions can occur depending on the shape of the potential barrier. For a vector field, here that of an O(3) nonlinear $\sigma$-model, the transition is seen to be only of the first order.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figure

Deep Neural Baselines for Computational Paralinguistics

Detecting sleepiness from spoken language is an ambitious task, which is addressed by the Interspeech 2019 Computational Paralinguistics Challenge (ComParE). We propose an end-to-end deep learning approach to detect and classify patterns reflecting sleepiness in the human voice. Our approach is based solely on a moderately complex deep neural network architecture. It may be applied directly on the audio data without requiring any specific feature engineering, thus remaining transferable to other audio classification tasks. Nevertheless, our approach performs similar to state-of-the-art machine learning models.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures; This paper was accepted at INTERSPEECH 2019, Graz, 15-19th September 2019. DOI will be added after publishment of the accepted pape