The progress of digitalisation brings with it numerous new opportunities and possibilities. At the same time, new challenges also arise for the economy and society. This article deals with two ...central problems that have been intensely discussed recently. On the one hand, the tendencies towards the formation of monopolies can be observed in the markets for digital goods and services. This raises a number of new questions for competition policy. On the other hand, we look at the effects of robotisation and artificial intelligence on the labour market. The main concerns are rising unemployment and a further increase in income and wealth inequality. JEL Classification: O3, D3, D42 Die voranschreitende Digitalisierung bringt zahlreiche neue Chancen mit sich. Gleichzeitig ergeben sich auch neue Herausforderungen fur Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. Dieser Beitrag beschaftigt sich mit zwei zentralen Problemen, die in letzter Zeit intensiv diskutiert werden. Zum einen geht es um die Tendenzen zur Monopolbildung, die sich auf Markten fur digitale Guter beobachten lassen. Zum anderen um die Auswirkungen auf den Arbeitsmarkt durch Roboterisierung und kunstliche Intelligenz. Hier stehen die Sorge vor Arbeitsplatzverlusten und einer weiter zunehmenden Einkommens- und Vermogensungleichheit an erster Stelle.
The application by the capitalists of the Taylorian principles of management on a large scale leads to a separation of conception from execution. According to Braverman, the main effect of this ...propagation is to polarize class structure. Nevertheless, he also identified several counter-tendencies. The process involves both deskilling and reskilling movements and it is not fully convincing to say that there for sure is a class polarization. The counter-tendencies can therefore not be taken as minor nor as necessarily dominated by the class polarization tendency. Therefore, the global outcome is likely to be more indeterminate and unstable than suggested by Braverman. Keywords: Class Structure. Class polarization. Division of labour. Labour process theory. Deskilling. A aplicacao feita pelos capitalistas dos principios taylorianos de gestao em larga escala leva a uma separacao entre concepcao e execucao. De acordo com Braverman, o principal efeito dessa propagacao e polarizar a estrutura de classes. No entanto, ele tambem identificou varias contra-tendencias. O processo envolve tanto a desqualificacao e os movimentos de requalificacao, e nao e totalmente convincente para dizer com certeza que e uma polarizacao de classes. Portanto, as contra-tendencias nao podem ser consideradas como menores, nem como necessariamente dominadas pela tendencia na polarizacao de classes. Assim, e provavel que o resultado global seja mais indeterminado e instavel do que o sugerido por Braverman. Palavras-chave: Estrutura de classes. Polarizacao de classes. Divisao do trabalho. Teoria do processo de trabalho. Desqualificacao.
We study a firm that makes new products in the first period and uses returned cores to make remanufactured products (along with new products) in future periods. The remanufactured product is ...differentiated from the new product, so the firm needs to choose differentiated prices. We analyze the monopoly environment in two-period, multi-period (three, four and five) and infinite planning horizons, and characterize the optimal remanufacturing and pricing strategy for the firm. In the process, we identify remanufacturing savings thresholds that determine the production and pricing strategy for the firm. Among other results, we find—counter to intuition—that in a finite-horizon, multi-period setting, the optimal policy is not necessarily monotone in remanufacturing savings.
Salt and State Chien, Cecilia Lee-fang
2020, 2004., Volume:
99
eBook
Open access
Salt and State is an annotated translation of a treatise on salt from Song China. From its inception in the Han dynasty (206 B.C.–220 A.D.), the salt monopoly was a key component in the Chinese ...government's financial toolkit. Salt, with its highly localized and large-scale production, was an ideal target for bureaucratic management. In the Song dynasty (960–1279), fiscal pressures on the government had intensified with increased centralization and bureaucratization. A bloated administration and an enormous standing army maintained against incursions by aggressive steppe neighbors placed tremendous strain on Song finances. Developing the salt monopoly seemed a logical and indeed urgent strategy, but each actor in this plan—the emperor, local officials, monopoly administrators, producers, merchants, and consumers—had his own interests to protect and advance. Thus attempts to maximize the effectiveness of the monopoly meant frequent policy swings and led to levels of corruption that would ultimately undo the Song. Unlike other contemporary sources, the Songshi treatise organizes its subject into an intelligible and detailed narrative, elucidating special terminology, the bureaucracy and its processes, and debates relating to Chinese finance and politics, as well as the salt industry itself. Professor Chien's extensive annotation relies on parallel histories that corroborate and supplement the Songshi account, together providing a comprehensive study of this important institution in China's premodern political economy.
Deutsche Bahn had to pay a total dividend of 2.85 billion euro over the past six years with cumulated annual results of just under 2.35 billion euro. During that time period, DB Netz AG pursued a ...monopolistic pricing policy for the transport companies on downstream competitive markets, which had serious consequences for both DB's own companies and its competing transport companies. This article explains why the company was economically forced to use the strategies that it did. It then outlines what the shareholder should do to achieve the goals set out in the coalition agreement. This agreement states the aim is "the increase in the market share of the railways", whereby "the focus is not on maximizing the profit, but on sensibly maximising the traffic on the railways". In economic terms, this means that the transport output by rail should be maximised instead of profits. JEL Classification: K23, L12, L43 Die Deutsche Bahn musste in den vergangenen sechs Jahren eine Gesamtdividende von 2,85 Mrd. Euro bei einem kumulierten Jahresergebnis von knapp 2,35 Mrd. Euro zahlen. Die DB Netz verfolgte in diesem Zeitraum eine monopolistische Preispolitik fur die Verkehrsunternehmen auf den nachgelagerten Wettbewerbsmarkten, die gravierende Folgen sowohl fur die eigenen als auch fur die konkurrierenden Verkehrsunternehmen hatte. Dieser Beitrag erlautert, warum das Unternehmen wirtschaftlich gezwungen war, genau diese Strategien anzuwenden. Im Koalitionsvertrag heisst es aber, dass "die Erhohung des Marktanteils der Eisenbahnen" angestrebt wird, wobei "nicht die Gewinnmaximierung, sondern die sinnvolle Maximierung des Verkehrsaufkommens auf der Schiene im Vordergrund steht". Es soll also nicht der Gewinn, sondern der Transportoutput auf der Schiene maximiert werden.
A través del presente artículo brindamos un análisis panorámico sobre la génesis, la naturaleza y el sentido histórico de la "crisis de lo público" experimentada en México, reconociendo un contexto ...histórico contemporáneo signado por un Estado mexicano que tiende a perder el control sobre amplias porciones del territorio nacional, y en el que una serie de (contra)poderes fácticos le disputan la hegemonía y se esfuerzan--en no pocos casos--por erigir una parainstitucionalidad estatal que define cursos de acción más allá de la legalidad establecida. Se trata de comprender la relación entre el espacio público, los (contra)poderes y su construcción, las funciones de un Estado fragmentado, y la dialéctica desarrollo/subdesarrollo en México.
In this article, the author explores how companies leverage the mythology of their ‘Big Data’ as a source of power. Drawing on two case studies from the ‘gig’ economy, the author finds that the ...mythology of Big Data allows companies to claim a monopoly over truth about their industries, marginalizing external researchers. In doing so, companies position themselves as the only legitimate source of knowledge about labour conditions on their services, granting them influence over their regulatory environment.
Abstract
I analyze a model of monopoly insurance contracting where the consumer has access to endogenous, costly evidence of his risk type. I characterize when the consumer is worse off if the ...insurer is allowed to condition contracts on evidence and when the ability to contract on evidence leads to a Pareto improvement. I compare the results to an analogous setting with perfect competition: Under perfect competition, when evidence acquisition costs are low, the ability to contract on evidence is always Pareto improving. For intermediate costs, I uncover a new source of unraveling.
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