Economic integration and environmental policy coordination

We analyse the effect of international economic integration on environmental policy incentives when product markets are characterised by imperfect competition and national policy makers act strategically. If traditional trade policy instruments are not available, environmental policies will typically be determined by the interaction of conflicting policy incentives. We find that economic integration — interpreted as a reduction of non-tariff trade costs — will reduce policy distortions in the non-cooperative policy game if the marginal social cost of pollution is increasing at a sufficiently low rate. In this case, it follows that increased integration reduces the need for transnational policy coordination, from an environmentalist perspective.Economic integration; Strategic environmental policy; Policy coordination.

Managerial delegation and merger incentives

We analyse how the internal organisation of firms affects the correspondence between private and social incentives for horizontal merger. Applying a model of endogenous merger formation in a three-firm asymmetric Cournot industry, we contrast the cases of entrepreneurial and managerial firms. The use of strategic delegation increases both the probability that a merger takes place and the likelihood that the ‘wrong’ type of merger is undertaken, from a viewpoint of social welfare. This suggests that managerial delegation increases the scope for antitrust policy.Managerial delegation; Endogenous mergers; Cost asymmetry; Antitrust policy.

Symbol correspondences for spin systems

The present monograph explores the correspondence between quantum and classical mechanics in the particular context of spin systems, that is, SU(2)-symmetric mechanical systems. Here, a detailed presentation of quantum spin-j systems, with emphasis on the SO(3)-invariant decomposition of their operator algebras, is followed by an introduction to the Poisson algebra of the classical spin system and a similarly detailed presentation of its SO(3)-invariant decomposition. Subsequently, this monograph proceeds with a detailed and systematic study of general quantum-classical symbol correspondences for spin-j systems and their induced twisted products of functions on the 2-sphere. This original systematic presentation culminates with the study of twisted products in the asymptotic limit of high spin numbers. In the context of spin systems, it shows how classical mechanics may or may not emerge as an asymptotic limit of quantum mechanics.Comment: Research Monograph, 171 pages (book format, preliminary version