Intra-EU differences in regulation-caused administrative burden for companies

CPB's contribution to the EU's 2005 Competitiveness Report includes Worldscan simulations for several aspects of the EU's Lisbon Agenda. One of the simulations concerns the macroeconomic consequences of lowering the administrative burdens for companies throughout the EU. This paper provides data that describe the baseline situation of administrative burdens for companies in the EU member states. This research note defines the concept of administrative burden for companies, using the concept of a standard information event caused by mandatory information requirements. A systematic comparison is made for most of the present EU countries. Different procedures for quantifying and aggregating the costs of the administrative burden are presented.

Exports and productivity selection effects for Dutch firms

This study presents recently available data on the microstructure of Dutch exports and the relation between export participation and productivity at the firrm and establishment-level. We test whether recent theories of international trade with heterogeneous firms can explain the patterns in the Dutch data. Read here the accompanying press release. We find significant evidence that firms self-select into export participation, even after controlling for sector and firm-specific characteristics. In general, only the most productive Dutch firms participate in exports and foreign direct investment. In addition, we find evidence for the learning-by-exporting hypothesis once we control for the firm's distance to the international productivity frontier. Background document: CPB Memorandum 250

Eloge: Martin Jesse Klein, 25 June 1924–28 March 2009

No abstract

Self-consistent field theory of a lipid monolayer

We present a mean-field theory which is specifically designed to take care of the effects of backfolding in lipid monolayers. Agreement with experiments on DPPC is fair

Statistical mechanics of a lipid monolayer

We calculate from first principles the equation of state of a simple type of membrane: a monolayer consisting of lipid chain molecules with short-range repulsive and long-range attractive forces. An approximate solution to the packing problem of the hydrocarbon chains is obtained by using a mathematical analogy with the quantum gas of hard disks. The long-range attractive forces are incorporated in a mean-field approximation. The results are in qualitative agreement with experiments

Business services and the Baumol disease

The business services industry represents a large and fast-growing chunk of the Dutch economy, approaching the size of the total manufacturing industry. The industry, however, has displayed stagnating productivity growth, accompanied in some years by a fall in productivity. Do these stylised facts imply that the Dutch economy is inevitably headed for the “Baumol disease”? Investigating this question, this paper reviews policy options that might improve the productivity record of the business services industry and strengthen its contributions to the productivity of client industries.business services, impact on macro-economic productivity growth

The future of the fence around the European labour market

In international forums the EU calls for freedom of movement for goods, services and capital. Freedom of movement of labour - labour migration in other words - is excluded from this claim, certainly in relation to medium- and low-skilled labour. This paper addresses two questions. Firstly, what are the effects of EU's restrictive labour migration policy on welfare within and outside the EU? Both welfare effects are found to be considerable. Secondly, is this policy sustainable over the longer term, say towards 2030? The paper evaluates foreseeable pressures on the fence around the EU labour market, coming from within and from outside the EU. The paper sketches policy options for dealing with the dilemmas that may arise from these pressures.labour migration; European Union; welfare; immigration policy

The market for cocoa powder

The paper analyses the forces that shape demand and supply processes in the market for cocoa powder. A brief statistical summary is given of the main trends in international demand and production, and the spatial shifts in cocoa processing. Ample attention is given to the role of technology substitution and price factors in production decisions. The paper separately analyses the role of price, income levels and government regulation in the demand for cocoa powder. In the final part of the paper, all preceding elements are brought together in an integrated simulation model of the cocoa processing industry, showing the interactions between the market for cocoa powder and other elements of the cocoa industry (cocoa, cocoa butter, cocoa liquor, chocolate). Empirical evidence is presented with regard to main parameters of the model.cocoa, cocoa powder, industry study, simulation model, intermediate products, government regulation

A different approach to WTO negotiations in services

International negotiations on the liberalisation of service trade are concentrated at non-tariff barriers (NTBs). National government measures form important obstacles for service providers when they want to access foreign markets. International studies predict substantial welfare benefits from removing trade obstacles for services. Negotiations on lowering these obstacles are complicated because government regulations are seldom strictly oriented at keeping foreign firms out their domestic service markets. Some of them (e.g. quantity-based restrictions) are clearly at odds with WTO principles. We argue however that in most cases regulators primarily aimed at correcting domestic market failures with disregard for the potential repercussions for foreign providers of services. In negotiations this problem can be approached by introducing economic necessity tests, but that is a very long and tedious process. We propose a different negotiation approach based on lessons learned from WTO negotiations on agricultural support measures.

Regulatory heterogeneity as obstacle for international services trade

International trade in services is hampered by non-tariff barriers that originate from national regulations. Not only the level of regulation in home or export country matters, but also the inter-country differences in regulation for service markets. Regulatory measures tend to affect fixed costs rather than variable costs. The fact that regulations often differ by market, means that the fixed costs of complying with regulations in an export market are in fact sunk market-entry costs. We prove that policy heterogeneity between countries has a negative impact on bilateral service trade. We develop a new index of bilateral policy heterogeneity, and apply it in a gravity model for explaining service trade among EU countries. The empirical results support our theoretical prediction: the degree of regulatory heterogeneity is inversely related to the level of bilateral service trade. Simulations for the EU show that if countries make more use of mutual recognition, bilateral trade in commercial services among EU countries could increase by 30% to 60%.