The Music Market in the Age of Download

Internet, mp3 files, peer-to-peer software and digital technologies for copying have radically modified the music sector. In this paper I present a theoretical model, that investigates the consequences of the appearance of a pirate low quality good (typically a mp3 file) in the music market. In this paper I propose a model of sampling, consider the possibility that the firm modifies its business entering into the low quality segment and investigate the supposed conflict between the recording company, whose profit depends on the CD sold, and the artist, whose profits depend in part on the live performance, the demand of which can increase for the positive externality due to the illegal download of music.File-sharing, Copyright, Sample Effect, Mp3, Concert

Patent Protection and Threat of Litigation in Oligopoly

In recent years, the increasing awarding of patents has captured the attention of scholars operating in different fields. Economic literature has studied the causes of this proliferation; we propose an entry game focusing on one of the consequences, showing how an incumbent may create a patent portfolio in order to control market entry and to collude. The incumbent fixes the level of patent protection and the threat of denunciation reduces the entrant’s expected profits; moreover, if the entrant deviates from collusion, the incumbent can strengthen punishment suing the competitor for patent infringement, reducing her incentive to deviate. Our analysis suggests that antitrust authorities should pay attention to the level of patent protection implemented by the incumbent and note whether the holder of a patent reacts to entry by either suing or not suing the competitor. In the model, we use completely general functional forms in analyzing the issues, and this allows us to obtain general results not depending on the assumptions about the kind of oligopolistic competition

Upward-sloping labor supply, firing costs and collusion

We analyze the sustainability of collusion in a supergames framework wherein the only input is a highly qualified type of labor, with its supply being upward-sloping and the wage being sensitive to the industry input demand. Hence, when seeking to expand production, firms have to attract additional employees by offering them higher wages. We compare equilibria and social welfare in both quantity and price competitions, as well as by considering non-negligible firing costs. We prove that: the sensitivity of wages to the industry demand for labor facilitates collusion in price competition (in quantity competition, the reverse is true); in both price and quantity competitions, collusion should be welfareenhancing when the sensitivity of wage is high enough. Moreover, the introduction of firing costs, decreasing the incentive to cut the production after a temporary rise, reduces the deviation profits making collusion easier to sustain. Our results can be extended to any context where input prices are endogenous

Endogenous input price and collusion sustainability in the output market

We analyze collusion sustainability in a duopoly where firms compete on quantities, labor is the only input, and the wage is endogenously defined by the match between the industry labor demand and an upward-sloping labor supply. In this framework, the equilibrium wage is positively correlated with the industry level of output and, to expand production, firms have to attract additional employees offering them a higher wage. We prove that the more sensitive to the industry demand of labor the wage is, the higher is the industry critical discount factor, i.e. the harder it is to sustain collusion. Thus, when the equilibrium wage is very sensitive to the industry demand of labor, punishment in the Nash reversion stage may be not credible; this makes collusion never sustainable

The Right to be Informed and the Right to be Forgotten. Welfare Implications in Presence of Myopic Consumers

Our paper evaluates the welfare impact of private data regulation in digital markets where consumers are behavioral; i.e., consumers are myopic (or "naïve”) if they do not recognize the impact of their present consumption decisions on their future ones (while sophisticated or "rational" ones are capable to do that!). In multimarket contacts, consumers reveal information about their preferences in one market and can be discriminated in the others. Private data have an economic value, but some consumers are not aware of giving away their data free of charge. Regulation of the private data market is now perceived as a need

Chiusura delle scuole e contrasto alla pandemia di Covid-19: l’esperienza della Campania

School closure was in many countries one of the first non-pharmacological policy interventions implemented by governments to try to slow down the spread of the Sars-CoV-2. In particular, in Italy the Campania region implemented the most restrictive measures with regard to schools, and only some judgements of the Regional administrative court (TAR) allowed attending classes in presence, for a few weeks between January and February 2021. In this paper, we analyse the effects of this policy on the spread of the virus, comparing the progress of the pandemic in Campania and Lazio, first with simple descriptive indices, and then with a more complex «Difference-in-Differences» model. According to our results, the impact of school closure on the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Campania region appears to be minimal

R&D cooperation in SMEs: the direct effect and the moderating role of human capital

We analyze the determinants of R&D cooperation for SMEs in Italy. We introduce in the literature human capital as one of the main determinants of R&D cooperation, concentrating on its moderating role, and specifically focusing on the high-tech sector. Using an extremely rich dataset, we improve the literature, building robust explanatory variables, and disaggregating the cooperation by partner. We find that human capital facilitates cooperation, but its moderating role depends on the type of disaggregation and/or the partner

Bisphosphonates after Denosumab withdrawal reduce the vertebral fractures incidence

Objective Several studies showed the occurrence of vertebral fracture (VFx) in patients discontinuing denosumab (Dmab), suggesting the need of bisphosphonate (BPs) therapy to mitigate this VFx risk increase. However, the morphometric VFx (morphoVFx) incidence after Dmab discontinuation and the BPs effect on VFx risk in this setting are still a matter of debate. Design Retrospective, monocentric study. Methods In 120 patients (111 females) discontinuing Dmab, 19 have not been treated (non-treated group: 16 females, aged 63.5 ± 15.0 years) and 101 patients have been treated (treated group: 95 females, aged 70.0 ± 10.6 years) with BPs (28 alendronate (ALN); 73 zoledronate ZOL), single infusion), respectively. We evaluated the incidence of both clinical VFx and morphoVFx in treated group and non-treated group. Results Patients in treated group showed a 5.5% VFx incidence (n = 6, three clinical, three morpho VFx), which was anyway lower than non-treated group patients (n = 4, 21.1%, four clinical, three multiple, P = 0.029), despite a comparable FRAX score at the time of Dmab initiation. The logistic regression analysis showed that the VFx incidence was independently associated with the lack of BPs treatment (odds ratio: 13.9, 95% CI 1.7–111.1, P = 0.014), but not with the number of Dmab injections, age, duration of BPs before Dmab initiation, the BMD at Dmab withdrawal, and the prevalence of VFx at Dmab withdrawal. Conclusions The Dmab withdrawal is associated with an increased risk of clinical but not morphometric VFx. Therapy with ALN or with a single ZOL treatment is partially effective in reducing the increased VFx risk after Dmab withdrawal

Myelodysplastic syndromes: advantages of a combined cytogenetic and molecular diagnostic workup

In this study we present a new diagnostic workup for the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) including FISH, aCGH, and somatic mutation assays in addition to the conventional cytogenetics (CC). We analyzed 61 patients by CC, FISH for chromosome 5, 7, 8 and PDGFR rearrangements, aCGH, and PCR for ASXL1, EZH2, TP53, TET2, RUNX1, DNMT3A, SF3B1 somatic mutations. Moreover, we quantified WT1 and RPS14 gene expression levels, in order to find their possible adjunctive value and their possible clinical impact. CC analysis showed 32% of patients with at least one aberration. FISH analysis detected chromosomal aberrations in 24% of patients and recovered 5 cases (13.5%) at normal karyotype (two 5q- syndromes, one del(7) case, two cases with PDGFR rearrangement). The aGCH detected 10 "new" unbalanced cases in respect of the CC, including one with alteration of the ETV6 gene. After mutational analysis, 33 patients (54%) presented at least one mutation and represented the only marker of clonality in 36% of all patients. The statistical analysis confirmed the prognostic role of CC either on overall or on progression-free-survival. In addition, deletions detected by aCGH and WT1 over-expression negatively conditioned survival. In conclusion, our work showed that 1) the addition of FISH (at least for chr. 5 and 7) can improve the definition of the risk score; 2) mutational analysis, especially for the TP53 and SF3B1, could better define the type of MDS and represent a "clinical warning"; 3) the aCGH use could be probably applied to selected cases (with suboptimal response or failure)

Case report of unusual synchronous anal and rectal squamous cell carcinoma: clinical and therapeutic lesson

Synchronous tumors of the rectum and anus are sporadic. Most cases in the literature are rectal adenocarcinomas with concomitant anal squamous cell carcinoma. To date, only two cases of concomitant squamous cell carcinomas of the rectum and anus are reported, and both were treated with up-front surgery and received abdominoperineal resection with colostomy. Here, we report the first case in the literature of a patient with synchronous HPV-positive squamous cell carcinoma of the rectum and anus treated with definitive chemoradiotherapy with curative intent. The clinical-radiological evaluation demonstrated complete tumor regression. After 2 years of follow-up, no evidence of recurrence was observed