Bank pricing under oligopsony-oligopoly: Evidence from 103 developing countries

We propose a generic oligopsony-oligopoly model to study bank behavior under uncertainty in developing countries. We derive a pricing structure that acknowledges market power in both the deposit and loan markets and identify two theoretical components to the loan rate: a rent extraction component resulting from the interaction between the choke price of loans and prevailing banking structures, and a markup on deposit funding costs that captures the transformation efficiency of financial intermediation. We then test our structural specification with longitudinal data for 103 non-OECD countries and find that both the market structure under uncertainty and the deposit rate matter significantly in pricing. However, the role played by the rent-extraction share in pricing, on average, dominates funding costs in developing countries, and so underscores the importance of market structure in banks’ pricing power.intermediation; bank pricing; market structure; uncertainty; developing countries

Regulating Man-Made Sedimentation in Riverways

Sedimentation in river beds, which results in social disamenities, is caused by soil erosion in farmed ecosystems surrounding those rivers. This paper introduces a "spatial" corrective tax on soil erosion. We find that the optimal tax rule will depart from the classical Pigouvian method according to farmers’ location in the ecosystem. La sédimentation du lit des voies navigables, dont les conséquences peuvent être coûteuses pour les populations riveraines, est souvent provoquée par l'érosion résultant des pratiques agricoles. Nous proposons un remède basé sur l'imposition d'une taxe « spatiale », variant selon la position de chaque exploitant par rapport au cours d'eau.Farming externalities, soil erosion, spatial taxes, Externalités agricoles, érosion des sols, taxes spatiales

International Environmental Agreements in the Presence of Adaptation

We show that adaptive measures undertaken by countries in the face of climate change, apart from directly reducing the damage caused by climate change, may also indirectly mitigate greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the stable size of international agreements on emission reductions. Moreover, we show that the more effective the adaptive measure in terms of reducing the marginal damage from emissions, the larger the stable size of the international environmental agreement. In addition, we show that larger coalitions, in the presence of adaptation, may lead to lower global emission levels and higher welfare.International Environmental Agreements, Adaptation, Coalition Formation, Climate Change

Bargaining with Linked Disagreement Points

In the context of bilateral bargaining,we deal with issue linkage by developing a two-issue-two-players cooperative bargaining model. The axioms we propose focus on the role of the disagreement points. A family of bargaining rule stands out: the monotonic equal net ratio solutions. These solutions point to Pareto efficient outcomes such that the relative gains for players are equal across issues and reward the players for improving their bargaining power over each issue. We discuss our results in light of international trade and environmental negotiations, which are often put on the bargaining table in a linked fashion. Dans un contexte de négociations bilatérales, nous adressons la question de l’inter-connexion des sujets de négociation dans un modèle coopératif à deux-sujets-deux-agents. Les axiomes que nous proposons insistent sur le rôle des points de menace. Une famille de solutions ressort de l’analyse : les solutions monotones à taux nets identiques. Chacune de ces solutions préconise une issue Pareto efficace de sorte que les gains relatifs de chaque agent sont les mêmes pour les deux sujets de négociation. De plus, ces règles récompensent les agents pour des améliorations de leurs pouvoirs de négociation. Nous discutons nos résultats à la lumière des négociations de commerce international et environnementales, qui sont souvent amenées à la table de négociations de manière liée.Multi-issue bargaining, issue linkages, axiomatic solutions, disagree-ment point. , Négociations Multi-sujets, inter-connexion des sujets, solutions axiomatiques, point de Menace.

The Economics of Oil, Biofuel and Food Commodities

Nous étudions l'effet sur le marché des aliments de l'introduction sur le marché de l'énergie de biocarburants, comme substitut aux combustibles fossiles. Nous supposons une économie où cohabitent sur le marché de l'énergie un cartel pétrolier et une frange compétitive de cultivateurs qui produit de l'énergie sous forme de biocarburant. Les cultivateurs produisent également des produits agricoles qu'ils vendent sur le marché des aliments. Nous caractérisons la relation qui en résulte entre le prix de l'énergie et le prix des aliments, ainsi que le sentier d'extraction du cartel pétrolier et le sentier de prix de l'énergie. Il est démontré que le prix des aliments va croître aussi longtemps que le stock de pétrole n'est pas épuisé, et cela que la population soit croissante ou non. Il continuera à croître une fois le stock de pétrole épuisé si la population est croissante. Les effets de l'amélioration dans la productivité de la terre dans la production d'aliments ainsi que dans la production de biocarburant sont analysés

Adaptation Funding and Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Halo Effect or Complacency?

This paper contributes to the debate surrounding the impact of adaptation to climate change on the incentives to abate greenhouse gases emissions. Using data from the World Development Indicators and various adaptation funds under the UNFCCC framework, this paper provides an empirical analysis of the relation between adaptation and emissions. We specifically test whether adaptation measures to climate change affect emissions of greenhouse gases in a world where adaptation funds are available. Using a staggered difference-in-differences approach and an event study analysis, we find that receiving adaptation funding significantly and negatively affects several CO2 emissions measures, providing preliminary evidence of the presence of a halo effect of adaptation funding. We do not find evidence of a significant change in the emissions of methane, nitrous dioxide and other greenhouse gases

Guns and butter? Military expenditure and health spending on the eve of the Arab Spring

We examine the validity of the guns-versus-butter hypothesis in the pre-Arab Spring era. Using panel data from 1995 to 2011 – the eve of the Arab uprisings – we find no evidence that increased security needs as measured by the number of domestic terrorist attacks are complemented by increased military spending or more importantly ‘crowd out’ government expenditure on key public goods such as health care. This suggests that both expenditure decisions were determined by other considerations at the government level