Privatization, competition, and supercompetition in the Mexican commercial banking system

Economic Research Working Paper 9904Banks and banking - Mexico

Liberalization, privatization, and crash: Mexico's banking system in the 1990's

Although Mexico's 1994 peso devaluation and subsequent capital outflows shook the nation's banking system, the foundations of the banking crisis were laid much earlier. ; Econometric evidence suggests that in the wake of the 1991-92 bank privatizations, Mexico's banks entered a market share struggle in which they incurred short-term losses at the margin, perhaps in the interests of greater expected gains over the long term. ; Euphoric investor behavior and a rising economy may have aggravated the situation by making risky borrowers more difficult to identify.Mexico ; Devaluation of currency ; Peso, Mexican

Geographic concentration and firm survival

If localization economies are present, firms within denser industry concentrations should exhibit higher levels of performance than more isolated firms. Nevertheless, research in industrial organization that has focused on the influences on firm survival has largely ignored the potential effects from agglomeration. Recent studies in urban and regional economics suggests that agglomeration effects may be very localized. Analyses of industry concentration at the MSA or county-level may fail to detect important elements of intra-industry firm interaction that occur at the sub-MSA level. Using a highly detailed dataset on firm locations and characteristics for Texas, this paper analyses agglomeration effects on firm survival over geographic areas as small as a single mile radius. We find that greater firm density within very close proximity (within 1 mile) of firms in the same industry increases mortality rates while greater concentration over larger distances reduces mortality rates.Firm Survival, Agglomeration, Localization, and Knowledge Externalities

Research universities and regional high-tech firm start-ups and exit

If localized knowledge spillovers are present in the university setting, higher rates of both start-ups and/or survival than in the broader economy would be observed in areas that are geographically proximate to the university. Using a fully-disclosed Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages for Texas for the years 1999:3-2006:2, this paper analyzes start-ups and exit rates for high-tech firms in Texas. We find that there is evidence that the presence of a research institution will affect the likelihood of technology start-ups. However, results suggest that geographic proximity to knowledge centers does not reduce hazard rates.Entry and Survival, R & D, Regional, Urban, and Rural Analyses

Empresa pública y privatización en un modelo de duopolio: las implicaciones de los costos diferenciales

El análisis reciente que postula la privatización de las empresas públicas tanto en las economías en desarrollo como en las desarrolladas procede del postulado de que la propiedad privada implica una producción más eficiente ceteris paribus. Haciendo a un lado la eficiencia distributiva y fiscal, algunos han promovido la privatización como una reforma que fortalece la eficiencia. Este trabajo analiza el problema de la privatización desde la perspectiva más amplia del bienestar social, puesto que la propiedad pública implica costos unitarios de producción más altos. En particular analizamos un duopolio compuesto por una empresa en la cual el Estado puede tener acciones –lo que resulta en costos unitarios más altos– y otra empresa de propiedad totalmente privada. Hemos elaborado un modelo que ilustra un intercambio entre la ineficiencia productiva asociada con la propiedad pública y la ineficiencia distributiva asociada con la propiedad privada en una industria en donde está presente el poder del mercado. Este modelo concede un contenido económico normativo a la cuestión de la privatización, en donde la propiedad afecta al costo de producción y al comportamiento. De una manera específica, el modelo proporciona una base sobre la cual la participación del Estado en la propiedad es consecuencia del comportamiento de la maximización del bienestar por el Estado, que explícitamente incorpora el intercambio implicado por los factores pertinentes a la propiedad pública y privada. Se ve que el Estado afecta al comportamiento de la empresa, porque elige la participación en la propiedad.

Structural Considerations of Inflatable Reentry Vehicles

The state of the design art for inflated structures applicable to reentry vehicles is discussed. Included are material properties, calculations of buckling and collapse loads, and calculations of deflections and vibration frequencies. A new theory for the analysis of inflated plates is presented and compared with experiment

Systems and Methods for Measuring Ultra-Short Light Pulses

Systems and methods for measuring a pulse length (.tau..sub.0) of an ultra-short light pulse (P.sub.0) based on processing a number of substantially similar light pulses. The system includes an autocorrelation optical system adapted to receive the light pulses P.sub.0 and create from each light pulse two beams having an associated optical path length difference .DELTA.OPL. Providing a different .DELTA.OPL for each light pulse creates an autocorrelation interference pattern representative of an autocorrelation of the light pulse P.sub.0. An LED detector detects the autocorrelation interference pattern and generates therefrom an autocorrelation signal. A signal-processing unit forms from the autocorrelation signal a digital count signal representative of a number of counted peaks in the autocorrelation signal above the full-width half maximum. Control electronics unit causes the varying .DELTA.OPL and provides a difference signal (S.sub..DELTA.) representative of the .DELTA.OPL to the s