Domestic Rivalry and Export Performance: Theory and Evidence from International Airline Markets

The much-studied relationship between domestic rivalry and export performance consists of those supporting a national-champion rationale, and those supporting a rivalry rationale. While the empirical literature generally supports the positive effects of domestic rivalry, the national-champion rationale actually rests on firmer theoretical ground. We address this inconsistency by providing a theoretical framework that illustrates three paths via which domestic rivalry translates into enhanced international exports. Furthermore, empirical tests on the world airline industry elicit the existence of one particular path - an enhanced firm performance effect - that connects domestic rivalry with improved international exports

A hybrid multi-agent framework for load management in power grid systems

In order to cope with load management in power grid systems, this paper presents a hybrid multi-agent framework. This framework integrates the advantages of both centralized and decentralized architectures to achieve both accurate decisions and quick response, and avoid the single point of failure as well. The development of various agents and the behaviors of each agent in the framework are described. Moreover, an example is also introduced, which demonstrates the interaction among agents when a fault happens in a power grid system. The contribution of this paper is to combine local intelligence with global coordination in multi-agent system design to satisfy the challenging requirements in a power grid system

Does certificate of need affect cardiac outcomes and costs?

Several U.S. states enforce Certificate of Need (CON) regulations, which limit the number of hospitals performing open heart surgery or coronary angioplasty. CON regulations were intended to restrain cost growth and improve quality of care. This study compares mortality rates and costs for cardiac care in states with and without CON. CON appears to raise hospital procedure volume and lower the average cost of care. However, CON is associated with little reduction in inpatient mortality, and it may lead hospitals to operate on more patients than they would otherwise. The claimed welfare benefits of CON regulations require careful reconsideration. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2006Regulation, Certificate of need, Outcomes assessment, Cardiac surgery, Costs, I110 Analysis of Health Care Markets, I180 Health: Government Policy, Regulation, Public Health,

Are prenatal care resources distributed efficiently across high-risk and low-risk mothers?

Prenatal care, Health care, High risk patients, H4, I1,

Market discipline in the Brazilian banking industry: an analysis for the subordinated debt holders

Market discipline, Banking regulation, Subordinated debts, G21, G28,