Compensating Competitors or Restoring Competition? EC Regulation of State Aid for Banks during the Crisis

We contrast the theory underpinning state aid for failing banks with that for failing firms in the real sector, and find that this should justify a different treatment for banks under Article 107. For example, there is little justification for measures to compensate rivals when the bank has been saved for reasons of systemic stability. We find that the formal guidance on bank restructuring aid takes insufficient notice of this. In four detailed case studies, we also find a number of inconsistencies with respect to size of subsidy, sustainability of divestitures or treatment of mergers. We conclude that while the Commission provided a useful constraint in the midst of a crisis of unprecedented scale and complexity, its approach could have been improved by focusing more closely on the fundamental justification of state aid in each case (i.e. the counterfactual)

A Genetic Screen for Genes Involved in the FGF Signalling Pathway in Drosophila melanogaster

The FGF signal is important for cell survival, proliferation, differentiation and migration. It is not clear how the FGF signalling cascade is regulated. In order to identify genes downstream of FGF signalling, a gain-of-function (GOF) screen was conducted using the Drosophila compound eye as a model system. The screen was based on the observation that expression of an activated form of the FGF receptor and Dof together in the Drosophilia eye ('GMR>λ-fgfr, dof'), produces a rough eye phenotype, whereas expressing either alone has no effect. This implies that at least some of the components in the signalling cascade are present during Drosophila eye development. When one copy of raf, rhoA or rhoGEF was mutated, the rough eye phenotype of 'GMR>λ-fgfr, dof' flies was enhanced. In the screen, 'GMR>λ-fgfr, dof' flies were crossed to the EP collection and the progeny were screened for the modification of the rough eye phenotype. In total, 24 suppressors and 26 enhancers were obtained, which may affect 38 annotated genes. 8 lines did not have any interactions with other signalling pathways that I have tested, which are the PDGF and EGF signalling pathways, and pathways involving Cdc42 or Rac1. Nor were they found in any of the published GOF screens. In order to investigate the interaction of the candidates with the endogenous FGF signalling pathway, imprecise excisions of three candidates - EP719, EP3575 and EP863 - were generated and the mutant phenotypes were studied

Empirical evidence of consumer response in regulated markets

The UK Competition and Markets Authority has opened two major investigations into the retail energy and banking sectors, and identifies weak consumer response as a potential theory of harm in both sectors. Consumers of many regulated services, including energy and banking, need to make active moves to switch suppliers, with profound consequences for how well the market functions. We identify differences in expected gains across demographic groups, particularly with respect to age and income, the associated changes in activity and implications for policy. We find that potential gains and anticipated switching time are associated with changes in consumer activity, but with differences between markets, demographic groups and individuals. Rather than concentrate on the average consumer response, we find variations across demographic groups, and that well informed vulnerable consumers are not necessarily less responsive than others, once we control for their expectations. We conclude that sector regulators and agencies who wish to encourage consumer action need to differentiate their policies: strategies to emphasize potential gains and reduce anticipated switching time are the most likely to increase consumer activity, but programmes need to be tailored to particular markets and target groups if they are to be effective in stimulating consumer activity

Non-discrimination clauses: their effect on British retail energy prices

UK governments and the energy regulator have shown increasing concern about the health of competition in the residential energy market, following their pioneering deregulation at the end of the last century. We identify the effects of introducing the non-discrimination clauses in 2009, a major regulatory intervention and the first since deregulation. We explore the effect of this intervention on the price movements of the six major players, and find that the nature of competition in the industry has changed, with less effective rivalry between the regional incumbents and large regional competitors following the intervention; companies seem to have ‘retreated’ to their home regions, leaving a market where pricing behaviour resembles more closely a duopoly between British Gas and the regional incumbent

Evidence-based medicine and healthcare quality in the context of information failure: the case of the UK fertility sector

Economic incentives in the context of a particular type of market failure—asymmetric information (which takes place when quality information relating to treatment is not available to patients before purchasing the treatment)—are highly relevant to the understanding of the lack of clinics’ incentives to disclose reliable evidence (relating to treatment quality) in the practice of evidence-based medicine. Based on the case study of the UK in vitro fertilisation (IVF) sector, I show that inadequate quality provision (relating to treatment effectiveness and safety) can be associated with a lack of voluntary disclosure of reliable evidence in the practice of evidence-based medicine. In the absence of sufficient economic incentives on clinics to voluntarily acquire and disclose evidence, I discuss the rationale for legislation requiring mandatory evidence disclosure as a possible mechanism to facilitate the acquisition and revelation of evidence. I do so by drawing evidence from the economic literature relating to the impact of such legislation on firms’ quality improvement. Practical implications for implementation are discussed (and illustrated with examples in the context of the UK IVF sector) with the purpose to facilitate the role of regulators in setting the standards for evidence disclosure to improve interpretability of such evidence, together with the role of patients in engaging with clinics and verifying such evidence to improve its reliability and, ultimately, quality of care

Written evidence submitted to ‘The Future of Banking Commission’ relating to three of their areas of investigation: appropriate structure of the banking system, competition and provision of suitable products for consumers

Written evidence submitted to ‘The Future of Banking Commission’ relating to three of their areas of investigation: appropriate structure of the banking system, competition and provision of suitable products for consumer

The quality and efficiency of public service delivery in the UK and China

The quality and efficiency of public service delivery in the UK and China, Regional Studies. This paper examines the efficiency of public service delivery at a regional level in both the UK and China using a method based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) that measures aggregate country-level inefficiency. This country-level inefficiency is then decomposed into three components: (1) lack of best practices at a regional level; (2) quality of the public service delivery; and (3) potential efficiency gains realizable via reallocation of expenditure across regions. The empirical results indicate that most UK inefficiency comes from the reallocation effect, while most Chinese inefficiency is attributable to lack of best practices; quality explains more of the expenditure variations in the UK relative to China. The paper speculates about fiscal (de)centralization as a possible explanation for such differences