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Qualitätsunsicherheit als Ursache von Marktversagen: Anpassungsmechanismen und Regulierungsbedarf (Überarbeitete Fassung)
Get PDFThis revised version corrects minor errors in the mathematical equations of the previous version (MPRA Paper No. [126467]). The theoretical argument and main conclusions remain unchanged.
The paper examines quality uncertainty as a source of market failure and analyzes the resulting adjustment mechanisms and regulatory implications.
This dissertation analyzes market failure under quality uncertainty and develops the goodwill approach as an alternative to signalling models in information economics. The study focuses on the existence of irreversible entry costs that arise endogenously from informational frictions rather than from explicit expenditures such as advertising or introductory pricing.
The central idea is that new entrants in markets with incomplete consumer information cannot immediately sell their profit-maximizing output at the prevailing market price, because consumers initially lack sufficient trust in their product quality. As a result, newcomers must operate temporarily at higher average costs than established firms. Market entry therefore continues only as long as incumbent suppliers earn prices that at least compensate these initial cost disadvantages. In equilibrium, price premia for high-quality products persist even under free market entry.
These equilibrium premia provide the incentive for established firms to maintain product quality: as long as the present value of future price premia exceeds the potential short-term gain from hidden quality deterioration, quality will be sustained. Non-cost-covering introductory prices or advertising expenses are not essential components of the goodwill model but represent optional instruments to reduce the irreversible costs of market entry.
Beyond this theoretical contribution, the dissertation discusses the resulting implications for competition policy and regulation in markets characterized by persistent quality uncertainty
Effets De Seuil De La Liberté Economique Sur Les Inégalités De Genre En Afrique Subsaharienne
Get PDFThe aim of this article is to identify the threshold effects at which economic freedom affects gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. To do this, we construct a panel of 31 sub-Saharan African countries over the period 2013-2022. We use the panel smooth transition regression (PSTR) model, with the gender inequality index (GII) from the UNDP database as the dependent variable and the economic freedom index as the threshold parameter. As the economic freedom indicator is a composite index, we also test the threshold effect of property rights, fiscal freedom, public spending, business freedom, labour freedom, monetary freedom, trade freedom and finally investment freedom, taken from the Heritage Foundation database. The results show that there are two thresholds above which economic freedom affects gender inequality in sub-Saharan Africa. The first threshold is 55% and varies between [54.35% and 55.07%] and the second threshold is 61.85% and varies between [61.85% and 62%]. We also find several thresholds, notably for property rights and labour freedom, and one threshold for investment freedom, fiscal freedom, entrepreneurial freedom, public expenditure, and none for monetary freedom and commercial freedom. However, our results are consistent with Becker's (1971) analysis that competition reduces gender inequality
Comment on Channabasavaiah’s Economic Statistics for Mining in India
Get PDFChannabasavaiah and Naidu (2021) provide a useful summary of economic statistics on mining in India, based on several public sources at the national and state levels. They show how to aggregate information across sources to give a more accurate picture. This article presents additional calculations using their survey data in new ways. I present methods to estimate the labour share of income associated with mining and further discuss multiplier effects on GDP from mine workers' labour income. It is essential to coordinate data collection and disclosure across different levels of government to improve financial statistics and provide the best possible information to global audiences, especially as new funding models for infrastructure and mining projects emerge
Bridging Climate Finance and Debt Sustainability in Global Vulnerable Countries
Get PDFAfter decade of aspiring to fulfill sustainability ambitions, we are still facing a polycrisis of complex and intertwined global economic, social and environmental challenges. Specifically, climate – related challenges (stemming from both acute and chronic risks) are responsible for a series of macroeconomic shocks which (by inducing economic disruptions and fiscal pressures) directly affect a country’s fiscal space and debt sustainability. Consequently, Global Vulnerable Countries (GVCs) will have to face higher borrowing needs and costs which can result in heightened refinancing risks and fiscal space reduction. Regrettably, this will result in fewer resources being available to fund adaptation and mitigation policies to reduce potential climate vulnerabilities. In fact, this also increases the probability of default of the GVCs and can feed into the climate Crisis – Sovereign Debt Doom Cycle. Therefore, this paper argued that Debt for – Climate – Swaps (DFCS) could unlock direct funding for climate – related spending to break the negative cycle. Fundamentally, DFCS can free up fiscal space beyond the direct savings generated by the debt swap by enhancing governments’ repayment capacity is well as lowering borrowing costs often linked to debt distress situation. However, policy action at both global and national levels is needed to foster a more favorable external environment as well as enhancing macroeconomic stability with reduced structural constraints to accelerate long term growth and development of those vulnerable countries. In other words, for these actions, global coordination and cooperation will be critical and useful
Assessing the safe haven characteristic of Sukuk in Iran's financial market: Fresh evidence for portfolio management
Get PDFThis paper examines the spillover effects between Sukuk and key alternative assets- conventional stock, gold, and currency- in Iran from July 2013 to December 2024. Using three advanced models-Quantile-on-Quantile (Gabauer & Stenfors, 2024), the contemporaneous and lagged R2 decomposed connectedness (Balli et al., 2023), and a portfolio approach (Broadstock et al., 2022)-the study finds that Iran's Sukuk market lacks depth for hedging against gold, currency, and stock risks across direct and reverse quantiles and under various shocks. Results show that the USD is the main contemporaneous driver, while Sukuk is a net receiver in average and contemporaneous connections. Sukuk also offers low long-term returns, making it less competitive. Gold proves optimal for long-term investment, mainly when currency acts short-term. Currency is the primary source of short-term volatility, but Sukuk fails as a stabilizing tool. Thus, including Sukuk in portfolios does not enhance diversification for risk-averse investors during crises due to its limited hedging ability in Iran
Dutch Disease and Structural Transformation: Synthetic Control Evidence from Ghana's Oil Discovery
Get PDFThis paper investigates the causal impact of Ghana’s 2007 oil discovery on economic growth and structural transformation. Using the Synthetic Control Method (SCM) and a donor pool of 24 non-oil-producing Sub-Saharan African countries, I estimate the counterfactual trajectory of Ghana’s economy in the absence of the oil boom. The results reveal that the discovery generated a substantial positive income shock: real GDP per capita increased by an average of $361.42 (28.64%) between 2008 and 2021 relative to the synthetic counterfactual. Crucially, the divergence begins in 2008, two years prior to commercial production, providing empirical support for an anticipatory "news shock" driven by investment expectations. However, a sectoral decomposition uncovers significant structural distortions consistent with Dutch Disease. While the industrial sector expanded dramatically, the agricultural and service sectors contracted relative to their counterfactual potentials, providing robust evidence of a "Resource Movement Effect" that crowded out traditional economic activities. These findings suggest that while oil wealth successfully accelerated aggregate growth and provided a fiscal buffer during the COVID-19 pandemic, it simultaneously induced a "two-speed" economy that threatens long-term diversification
The Global Minimum Tax, Investment Incentives and Asymmetric Tax Competition
Get PDFThis paper investigates the OECD's global minimum tax (GMT) in a formal model of tax competition between asymmetric countries. We consider both profit shifting and real responses of multinational enterprises, and highlight the role of the substance-based income exclusion (SBIE) in investment incentives and tax rate setting. The GMT reduces the true tax rate differential and benefits the large country, while the revenue effect is generally ambiguous for the small country. In the short run where tax rates are fixed, the GMT reduces the small country's revenue if profit shifting costs are low and increases it otherwise. In the long run where countries adjust tax rates, the GMT reshapes the tax game and the competition pattern. We reveal that the minimum rate binds the small country only if it is low. With the rise of the GMT rate, countries will set tax rates below the minimum to boost capital investments and collect top-up taxes. Simulations show that a moderate GMT rate can raise both countries' revenues and the large country's welfare in the long run. However, it may reduce the small country's welfare if the welfare weight of private income is high
Aspetti strutturali e occupazione nel mercato del lavoro in Italia
Get PDFThis paper analyzes the Italian labor market and highlights the structural problems that have characterized it for many years and which, to a large extent, remain unresolved despite some government reform attempts.
Among these unresolved issues are low real wages, regional differences between North and South, gender inequalities that penalize women, high youth unemployment, particularly in the South, the brain drain, and the widespread prevalence of irregular work and the underground economy.
The study also provides an analysis of employment trends, noting the positive employment and unemployment rates over the last three years, amid stagnant productivity and very modest economic growth
Forecasting household-level inflation in Greece
Get PDFThe aim of this study is to develop a forecasting framework for household-level inflation in Greece using domestic, global and energy-related predictors for the period 2009-2022. We show that significant forecasts gains are obtained when models incorporate global conditions and energy prices, relative to our benchmark model, the AR(1). More importantly, though, we find that although the global economic activity, global supply chain pressure and geopolitical risk are important predictors for all households, there are other predictors which demonstrate a household-specific forecast performance. Even more, we show that the energy factors are more important predictors for the low-income households. Overall, these results demonstrate (i) that aggregate inflation forecasts are not representative of the Greek households and (ii) the importance of household-specific inflation forecasting, which could be used as an early warning system that identifies the factors that could drive inflation inequality across the different households
Analyzing the drivers and preferences of functional dairy food consumption: A socioeconomic perspective from Tamil Nadu
Get PDFIn today’s consumer market, individuals are subject to
various stimuli such as advertising campaigns, popular magazines
etc., which shape their marginal consumption propensity.
However, as Economic Theory teaches us, this propensity does
not necessarily translate into consumer spending. This is strongly
affected by consumers’ eating habits, individual circumstances
and other contextual variables. This study, conducted in the
Tamil Nadu state of India explores the consumer preferences and
factors moderating the consumption of functional dairy foods
(FDFs) based on the data collected from 160 respondents chosen
from different sale locations. Socioeconomic profiles were
analyzed using tabular and frequency analysis, while indices
were constructed to assess consumer preferences using Likert
scale. The Seemingly Unrelated Regression model was employed
to identify factors moderating functional dairy food consumption.
The findings highlight that safety/trustworthiness was the most
valued attribute among consumers, followed closely by nutritional
and health benefits. Despite being in the early stages of adoption,
functional dairy foods, particularly fortified milk, demonstrate
significant growth potential. Key determinants of consumption
include family income, occupation, dietary habits, family size and
geographic location