{"title":"New Powers - New Vulnerabilities? A Critical Analysis of Market Inquiries Performed by Competition Authorities","authors":"Tamar Indig, M. Gal","doi":"10.4337/9781783472598.00012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/9781783472598.00012","url":null,"abstract":"In the past two decades the number of jurisdictions which have empowered their Competition Authorities to engage in market inquiries (MIs) has grown substantially. Although jurisdictions differ in the scope and procedure adopted for such studies, they all share an important common trait: attempting to allocate the roots of limited competition in the studied market. Market studies differ from traditional competition law tools in their triggers, range, object, and the level of pro-activity of the Competition Authority. They are not triggered by a suspicion of anti-competitive conduct of specific firm(s), but rather allow the Authority to use a broad prism which focuses on a wider set of potential obstacles to competition, including the Authority's own past conduct, in order to find ways to enhance competition. MIs entail many advantages. Yet, bestowing this power upon a Competition Authority is not self-explanatory. Furthermore, it is far from costless. Beyond the direct costs imposed on both the Authority and market participants, MIs often carry less tangible price tags. They raise a host of constitutional, democratic and practical issues that have not been thoroughly studied as of yet, which are the focus of this paper. In so doing, the paper builds, inter alia, on the recent administrative law literature which focuses on multi-agency interactions. Accordingly, this paper seeks to provide a synergetic analysis of MIs for the benefit of policymakers.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-10-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125366998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"'Make or Buy' as Competitive Strategy: Evidence from the Spanish Local TV Industry","authors":"Ricard Gil, Christian A. Ruzzier","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2213070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2213070","url":null,"abstract":"This paper empirically investigates whether changes in product market competition affect firm boundaries. Exploiting regulation-induced shocks to entry barriers and differences in regulation enforcement across cities to obtain exogenous variation in competition, we establish a negative causal effect of competition (through reduced entry barriers and a larger number of rival firms) on vertical integration in the setting of the Spanish local television industry between 1995 and 2002. We also find that stations located in larger markets are on average more likely to produce their content in-house than stations in smaller markets, and that private stations outsource more.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2013-05-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121420731","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Liberalisation of the Postal Service Market in Estonia and Its Effect on Competition","authors":"Jüri Sepp, Raigo Ernits","doi":"10.15157/TPEP.V20I2.843","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.15157/TPEP.V20I2.843","url":null,"abstract":"The liberalisation of infrastructure sectors through opening up markets as a method for increasing the efficiency of infrastructure services is an international tendency. Emerging competition has been seen as an essential element in this process. On the other hand, the liberalisation of the market for universal services can cause several problems in ensuring quality and access to services. In this article we evaluate the results of liberalisation in the Estonian postal sector as an infrastructure specific sector offering a universal service in a decreasing market in a small country.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"8 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125621478","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Do Public Equity Markets Matter in Emerging Economies? Evidence from India","authors":"Todd A. Gormley, R. Gopalan","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1010116","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1010116","url":null,"abstract":"Do public equity markets serve an unique role that is not easily served by other forms of financing in emerging economies? We analyze this question using the collapse of India's equity market in 1997, which provides an exogenous shock to firms' ability to issue equity. We find that both public and private firms exhibit higher bankruptcy rates and lower growth after 1997. The decline in growth is greater among firms with more external finance needs and fewer tangible assets. Overall, the evidence suggests that public equity markets are an important, not easily replaced, source of finance in emerging economies. Copyright 2013, Oxford University Press.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"52 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-08-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127349654","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Deregulation, Consolidation, and Efficiency: Evidence from U.S. Nuclear Power","authors":"Lucas W. Davis, Catherine Wolfram","doi":"10.1257/APP.4.4.194","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1257/APP.4.4.194","url":null,"abstract":"For the first four decades of its existence the U.S. nuclear power industry was run by regulated utilities, with most companies owning only one or two reactors. Beginning in the late 1990s electricity markets in many states were deregulated and almost half of the nation's 103 reactors were sold to independent power producers selling power in competitive wholesale markets. Deregulation has been accompanied by substantial market consolidation and today the three largest companies control more than one-third of all U.S. nuclear capacity. We find that deregulation and consolidation are associated with a 10 percent increase in operating efficiency, achieved primarily by reducing the frequency and duration of reactor outages. At average wholesale prices the value of this increased efficiency is approximately $2.5 billion annually and implies an annual decrease of almost 40 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130634899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ronald H. Coase","authors":"M. Sykuta","doi":"10.4337/9781849806909.00010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849806909.00010","url":null,"abstract":"As a student at the London School of Economics (LSE), Ronald Coase posed a seemingly naive question that would, in time, fundamentally change the face of economics and earn him the Nobel Prize: ‘Why do firms exist?’ The import of this simple question derived not only from the response Coase proposed, that is, that firms exist to economize on the costs of using the market, but also from the analytic perspective underlying both the question and the process by which Coase arrived at his conclusion. Coase’s insight and approach to understanding the economic system provided the theoretical foundation for Transaction Cost Economics and much of organizational economics more generally. Much has been written of Coase’s days as a student at the LSE and lecturer at the Dundee School of Economics and Commerce, most notably Coase’s (1991) autobiographical lectures on the origin, meaning and influence of his 1937 paper, ‘The Nature of the Firm’. One of the most striking realizations for many students is that the basic ideas contained in the 1937 paper had been developed in 1932 when Coase traveled to the United States as a mere 21 year-old, having received a scholarship to study ‘vertical and lateral integration in industry’ (Coase, 1991, p.38). That the ideas of such a young person with very little formal economics training could have such significant implications for an entire discipline should be an encouragement to students and young professionals. It should also serve as a reminder to the profession as a whole to be careful of overlooking the most basic of its assumptions.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"13 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2010-04-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133750733","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evolution of Seeds Commerce: Deregulation, Technology, and Local Practices","authors":"Aashish Argade, Ram Kumar Kakani","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1409044","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1409044","url":null,"abstract":"This paper captures the evolution of seeds commerce in India, a traditionally agrarian economy. It also captures some exciting aspects of industry evolution of one of the top seeds market in the world (given its size). Following a review of the industry in India over the last few decades one observes that the deregulation of seeds commerce has been influenced not only by the progressive liberalization of the Indian economy but also by the development of science and technology in the private sector, both locally and globally. This has resulted in the seeds market in India becoming highly competitive by attracting a large number of players. The discussion also captures another interesting facet – that the norms and regulations of the industry and the way it develops can be severely influenced not only by the (large) private business players but also by the dispersed (and seemingly) powerless farming community! The existing farmer’s rights gives a free hand to farmers to multiply, exchange, sell and use any proprietary (seed) variety. The local practices especially of seed organizers also make the life of the rules setter (i.e., the state) very difficult. Perhaps, one can observe that seeds commerce in India has grown beyond the control of the state and its bureaucracy.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"56 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2009-05-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131977538","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Capital Structure Decisions: Evidence from Deregulated Industries","authors":"A. Ovtchinnikov","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1270822","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1270822","url":null,"abstract":"Deregulation significantly affects the firms' operating environment and leverage decisions. Firms experience a significant decline in profitability, asset tangibility and a significant increase in growth opportunities following deregulation. Firms respond by reducing leverage. Deregulation also significantly affects the cross-sectional relation between leverage and its determinants. Leverage is much less negatively correlated with profitability and market-to-book and much more positively (negatively) correlated with firm size (earnings volatility) following deregulation. These results are consistent with the dynamic tradeoff theory of capital structure. Also consistent with the dynamic tradeoff theory, those firms that are more likely to be above their target capital structure issue significantly more equity in the first few years following deregulation.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"80 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-09-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125937449","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Outsourcing and the Duty to Govern","authors":"Paul R. Verkuil","doi":"10.2307/j.ctv22jnrsb.16","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv22jnrsb.16","url":null,"abstract":"This article, which will be a chapter in Government by Contract (Martha Minow and Jody Freeman eds., Harvard University Press 2008), addresses the proposition that some duties of government may not be transferred to private hands. It views the executive power as requiring public governance and connects Congress to this responsibility through the Appointments Clause. Officers of the United States are those officials directly charged with doing the public's business and any direct or indirect transfer of their responsibilities would run counter to the constitutional plan. Decisions at the margins, where government remains nominally in control, are less easy to categorize and issues of justiciability are always problematic. However, there remains a core of government responsibilities that must be protected from the increasingly robust privatization movement. This chapter is concerned with the transfer to private contractors of government power that might be considered inherent or significant under governing constitutional, statutory or regulatory norms (especially the Appointments Clause, the Subdelegation Act and OMB's A-76 process). Through a study of the Transportation Security Agency, it seeks to offer workable definitions of these limitations. This chapter connects to prior work by the author in Outsourcing Sovereignty (Cambridge University Press 2007).","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"20 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2008-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130364124","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Liberalization and Private Sector Involvement in the Water Industry: A Review of the Economic Literature","authors":"A. Massarutto","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.1031623","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1031623","url":null,"abstract":"The theoretical and empirical literature on water supply and sewerage liberalization is reviewed in this paper in order to discuss the potential for market creation and private sector involvement in this sector. The analysis is framed in the “policy roadmap” developed by regulatory economics and discusses opportunities for competition in the market, unbundling, competition for the market and yardstick competition. A review of studies comparing privately and publicly managed water utilities is finally provided.","PeriodicalId":217147,"journal":{"name":"ERN: Deregulation/Restructuring of Public Sector Firms (Topic)","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2007-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124175336","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}