Relevant market definition remains a key element in the economic analysis of competition in the gasoline market. However, this is particularly difficult to undertake when competition is local and ...market power is geographically constrained, as they are in the case of the gasoline market. We analyse how the hypothetical monopolist or Small but Significant Non-Transitory Increase in Prices test performs when defining isochrones based solely on price information and the distance between competitors. We conclude that geographic information systems can be successfully employed in the precise definition of relevant geographic markets in the gasoline retail sector. Their application to the Spanish gasoline market indicates that the relevant geographic market is delineated by a 5- to 6-min travel-time isochrone around each station. Localized market power needs to be taken into account when analysing the adverse effects of mergers and entry regulations on gasoline retailing. To drive competition in these local circumstances, markets need to be delineated on the basis of sufficiently small isochrones since only close rivals seem to compete effectively with each other.
This paper estimates the impact of reforming competition authorities on perceived antitrust effectiveness using methods of causal inference. We study how 20 countries reformed their competition ...authorities in depth between 1995 and 2020, and what has been the outcome of such reforms in the perceived competition policy effectiveness by the business community compared with 18 control countries in a balanced panel. As the political economy literature warned, we find that reforms paradoxically have not always improved antitrust effectiveness. Some of the reforms approved stalled or backlashed as politicians opted for a Machiavelli option: undertaking “counter‐reforms” even in the name of an apparent but deceptive progressiveness and pro‐competition drive.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper uses a game of strategic interaction to simulate entry and location of fast charging stations for electric vehicles. It evaluates the equilibria obtained in terms of social welfare and ...firm spatial differentiation. Using Barcelona mobility survey, demographic data and the street graph we find that only at an electric vehicle penetration rate above 3% does a dense network of stations appear as the equilibrium outcome of a market with no fiscal transfers. We also find that price competition drives location differentiation measured not only in Euclidean distances but also in consumer travel distances.
•We simulate entry and location of fast charging stations for electric vehicle (EV).•Only at an EV penetration rate above 3% a network of stations is self-sufficient.•Price competition drives location differentiation.•Policy intervention does not improve welfare for every level of penetration of EV.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
On the basis of information collected from all the published European Commission's decisions in cartel cases between 1962 and 2014, this paper identifies different stages in the supra‐nationalization ...of cartel policy at the European Union (EU) level. It analyzes major competition policy reforms, strategies and initiatives taken by the European Commission (EC), and its relationship and interaction with Member States’ resistance and other policy players’ positions, which offers a new in‐depth study on the history and political economy of a key pillar of EU integration. It also provides a forensic analysis of the sanctioned cartels at each stage. This study shows that the introduction of the leniency programme was a critical juncture that allowed cartel authorities to identify cartels more effectively and to provide evidence for sanctioning collusion much more easily than before. This success was a key determinant for deepening the EU integration in competition policy. The intended drivers and the paradoxically unexpected shifters of such growing integration in cartel policy enforcement at the EU are discussed.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, IZUM, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, ODKLJ, OILJ, PILJ, PRFLJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The consequences of climate change are becoming increasingly evident and highlight the important interdependence between the well-being of people and ecosystems. Although climate change is a global ...phenomenon, its causes and consequences vary dramatically across territories and population groups. Among settings particularly susceptible to health impacts from climate change are cities with a Mediterranean climate. Here, impacts will put additional pressure on already-stressed ecosystems and vulnerable economies and societies, increasing health inequalities. Therefore, this article presents and discusses a conceptual framework for understanding the complex relationship between climate change and health in the context of cities with Mediterranean climate from a social and climate justice approach. The different elements that integrate the conceptual framework are: (1) the determinants of climate change; (2) its environmental and social consequences; (3) its direct and indirect impacts on health; and (4) the role of mitigation and adaptation policies. The model places special emphasis on the associated social and health inequalities through (1) the recognition of the role of systems of privilege and oppression; (2) the distinction between structural and intermediate determinants of climate change at the root of health inequalities; (3) the role of individual and collective vulnerability in mediating the effects of climate change on health; and (4) the need to act from a climate justice perspective to reverse health inequities.
The literature presents mixed findings regarding the economic conditions under which cartels form and collapse, and regarding how stable they are across firm-specific and industry-wide business ...cycles. The relationship between cartel life cycles and business cycles has been insufficiently analyzed to date. In this paper, we study in depth whether collusion is pro-cyclical or counter-cyclical. We analyze the relationship between cartel start-ups/break ups and economic cycles using a dataset of sanctioned cartels by the European Commission (EC) that were active between 1997 and 2018, after the leniency program had already been introduced. We also double check whether this relationship has changed with respect to the pre-leniency period from 1991 to 1996. Our results show that cartels are more likely to be formed when the business has evolved positively in the previous months, and cartels are less likely to collapse when the business has evolved positively, and managers expect prices to decline. The EC’s sanctioning activity has been an effective deterrent and has had a destabilizing effect on cartels. However we found no evidence that managers’ expectations on prices affect cartel formation. All these results are an important issue for anti-cartel policy enforcement since knowing when cartels are more prone or less likely to occur would help authorities prevent their formation or their early detection.
La defensa de la competencia es un proceso dinámico donde, de una parte, la propia configuración del marco institucional es relevante y, de otra, las reformas son procesos complejos que pueden tener ...influencias regresivas. A partir de encuestas a empresarios (International Institute for Management Development, IMD), el presente trabajo evalúa la evolución de la efectividad de la política de la competencia a nivel internacional y los cambios en dicha efectividad percibida para el caso de cinco reformas en la política y autoridades de defensa de la competencia: Reino Unido, Francia, Holanda, Finlandia y España. Los resultados para España señalan efectos no positivos en la última reforma (creación de la CNMC), aunque con mejoras en los últimos años.
EVALUATING ANTITRUST LENIENCY PROGRAMS Borrell, J.-R.; Jimenez, J. L.; Garcia, C.
Journal of competition law & economics,
03/2014, Volume:
10, Issue:
1
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Open access
This article identifies and then quantifies econometrically the impact of leniency programs on the perception of the effectiveness of antitrust policies in the business community using panel data for ...as many as 59 countries during a 14-year span. We use the dynamics of the gradual diffusion of leniency programs across countries and over time to evaluate the impact of the program, taking care of the bias caused by self-selection into the program. We find that leniency programs increase the perception of effectiveness by an order of magnitude ranging from 10 percent to 21 percent. Leniency programs have become weapons of mass dissuasion in the hands of antitrust enforcers against the more damaging forms of explicit collusion among rival firms in the market place. PUBLICATION ABSTRACT
This article provides empirical evidence on the impact of patents on drug prices across developing countries. It uses sales data on human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/acquired immuno deficiency ...syndrome (AIDS) drugs in a sample of 34 low- and middle-income countries between 1995 and mid-2000. The main findings are that patents do shift drug prices up, drug prices are correlated to per capita income levels and drug firms follow a skimming strategy when pricing new HIV/AIDS drugs. That is, there is across country and intertemporal price discrimination in the global drug markets.
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BFBNIB, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
This paper empirically analyses entry by generic firms into the strictly regulated Spanish pharmaceutical market. We estimate a fixed effects negative binomial entry model using a panel of 77 active ...ingredient markets during the period 1999-2005. The results show that generic entry depends positively on revenues, the age of the market, and the number of previous brand-name competitors, and negatively on the number of generic incumbents. We also find that regulation may drive out competition since, contrary to what policy makers might expect, the system of reference pricing restrains generic entry.
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