LÖSCHIAN COMPETITION VERSUS SPATIAL COLLUSION: PRICE AND WELFARE COMPARISONS*

ABSTRACT. Löschian duopoly under heterogeneous cost conditions is examined to show that it is not equivalent, contra past findings, to spatial collusion. Moreover, within the confines of the assumed demand and cost conditions spatial collusion is shown to be superior to Loschian competition in terms of both (aggregate) consumer surplus and producer surplus, which implies a possible welfare gain from collusion. A general, if not the general, prices-and-welfare comparison of alternative pricing schema including collusive, Löschian, and optimal pricing is summarily presented in a table.     

Competition and cooperation among jurisdictions: The case of regional cooperation in science and technology in Europe

This article analyzes the possible conflict between regional cooperation and jurisdiction and the cases in which cooperation is compatible with competition. This analysis is carried out beginning with the concrete case of regional cooperation that has been called the ‘Four Motors for Europe’ established in the field of cooperation in science and technology. The basis for the analysis of cooperation between jurisdictions in science and technology is the same as that for cooperation in the same field between companies. It allows the establishment of when this cooperation can degenerate into collusion or else when the result is a socially efficient organization. The risk of regional cooperation in science and technology is that it degenerates into collusion between the regions that occupy a more favourable technological position at the cost of those that are in a worse situation. The solution in order to avoid this risk would be to guarantee political competition in the same way that through regulations competition in the market is guaranteed.     

The Information—Gradient Method in Geographical Regionalization

In terms of information theory, homogeneous regions are viewed as areas in which an observer is likely to gain little new information in terms of a selected parameter or set of parameters as he moves about the region. The values of the parameter would be significantly different in an adjoining region. Adjoining points with significantly different parametric values would lie in different regions. The boundary between regions would be drawn in places where the observer would gain a maximum of new information within a unit distance. A mathematical procedure is developed to measure the gain of information along a set of profile lines drawn through a study area. A maximum information increment within a given interval is interpreted as marking a regional boundary. A minimum gain is interpreted as designating the regional core. The technique is illustrated with particular reference to the delimitation of landscape regions. Landscape boundaries identified by the information—gradient technique are found to come close to boundaries delimited by conventional means on the basis of photo interpretation.     

Waltharius and Carolingian morality: satire and lay values

Some recent interpretations of the early medieval Latin poem Waltharius have seen it as offering a clerical critique of warrior culture. While the poem is difficult to date accurately, it seems more likely to belong to the ninth than the tenth century. When the poem is analysed in the context of contemporary Frankish works providing moral instruction to lay noblemen, its attitudes towards pride, wealth and warfare can be shown to lie within the mainstream of Carolingian reformers' thought. The notoriously bloody ending to the poem is also best seen as emphasizing Walter's successful heroism rather than undermining it.     

Parliamentary Divorce, 1700–1857

Divorce by parliament in the 18th and early 19th centuries was long considered to be the preserve of the wealthy and the upper ranks of society. But while social standing has guided historians' analysis of those who obtained divorce, the standing of those who failed to obtain divorce has been largely overlooked. If rank or status is to serve true analytical purpose, the successful must be set against the failed. Juxtaposing the successes and failures by group across the period reveals that the upper echelons of society were by no means preferred. Even distinctive cases – for instance of multiple failure – were not decided on rank. Status is ultimately shown to be of limited significance. Although the sources are not at all explicit, from the analysis of certain specific cases, it would appear that moral and legal judgments (for example, on collusion) far outweighed any social prejudices.     

对开拓青海报业市场的几点思考

由于青海省经济相对落后等多方面的原因,青海报业尚未进入产业化运作,无论是管理体制方面,还是经营机制方面,均存在一定的问题。市场化运作是青海报业发展的长远之计。报业要发展,就要突破传统的思维方式,开扩眼界,寻找新的经济增长点,扩大多种经营范围,采取切实可行的措施和办法,以适应市场竞争的需要。     

TWO-DIMENSIONAL BERTRAND COMPETITION: BLOCK METRIC,EUCLIDEAN METRIC,AND WAVES OF ENTRY*

This paper examines two-dimensional spatial competition, with Bertrand price determination. With a block metric, equilibrium prices are significantly lower when market areas are squares than when they are diamonds (rotated squares) of the same size. If demand density grows, waves of entry occur, and the shapes of market areas change from squares to diamonds and back to squares again. The former change leaves prim unchanged, whereas the latter cuts prices in half. Results are also derived for a Euclidean metric, with square and hexagonal market areas. Optimal waves of entry are examined with the block metric. With either metric, the socially optimal market shape becomes suboptimal if market areas are constrained to be of the zero-profit size.     

VALUING AMENITIES AND DISAMENITIES OF URBAN SCALE: CAN BIGGER BE BETTER?*

ABSTRACT. Considerable effort has been devoted within the recent literature to the valuation of urban amenities and disamenities, as well as to econometric procedures required for the estimation of their implicit market “prices.” This study questions the equilibrium conditions invoked within this literature to derive estimates of marginal willingness to pay, conditions premised upon “perfect” labor mobility among cities. It is shown that such assumptions need not be invoked if one considers the amenity price-mobility relationship directly. This is accomplished by appending a binary migration model to a first-stage wage equation, a procrdure that provides estimates of willingness to pay that can diverge from market-determined implicit prices. Comparison of such values yields important information on the adequacy of market compensation for disamenities (amenities) throughout metropolitan areas.     

Clustering and Dispersion of Duopolists in a Linear Market

The locations that two sellers will choose in a linear market has long been of interest. It is well accepted that firms will tend to cluster in the center of the market as long as demand for the product is inelastic and the market area is bounded. It has also been stated that clustering is less strong as demand becomes more elastic, but questions of when this dispersion occurs and what affects it remain to be addressed. This paper further explores clustering in spatial duopoly as elastic demand is allowed. Results indicate that the clustering behavior of sellers is related to the price of the product they sell, the cost to the consumer of acquiring the product, and the elasticity of demand. Locations of sellers in a linear market will lie between the median location and the quartiles as these parameters vary.     

Determining Market Areas Captured by Competitive Facilities: A Continuous Equilibrium Modeling Approach

Many existing models concerning locations and market areas of competitive facilities assume that customers patronize a facility based on distance to that facility, or perhaps on a function of distances between the customer and the different facilities available. Customers are generally assumed to be located at certain discrete demand points in a two-dimensional space, or continuously distributed over a one-dimensional line segment. In this paper these assumptions are relaxed by employment of a continuum optimization model to characterize the equilibrium choice behavior of customers for a given set of competitive facilities over a heterogeneous two-dimensional space. Customers are assumed to be scattered continuously over the space and each customer is assumed to choose a facility based on both congested travel time to the facility and on the attributes of the facility. The model is formulated as a calculus of variations problem and its optimality conditions are shown to be equivalent to the spatial customer-choice equilibrium conditions. An efficient numerical method using finite element technique is proposed and illustrated with a numerical example.     

The Lösch System of Market Areas: Derivation and Extension

Certain aspects of Lösch's classic work on the network of markets and the system of networks have not yet been clearly explained in the literature. Lösch did not describe his derivation procedures in full, and apparent printing errors in certain förmulae confuse the issue further, with the result that several recent texts reproduce Lösch's diagrams but offer no explanation of how they are constructed. Accepting the network of hexagonal market areas for a continuous system of markets, given an even but discrete distribution of population, the derivation from first principles of the complete system of different market areas is presented. Apparent errors in the translated text of Lösch's work are corrected. Limitations in some other authors' work and accordance with earlier empirically derived formulae are mentioned. The production of “city-rich” and “city-poor” sectors is shown to be a constraint on, rather than a result of, the system, and Lösch's statement that the coincidence of centers is maximized is clarified. The extension of the Lösch system to the internal tertiary structure of the city is presented and attention drawn to the empirical attractiveness of this approach.     

Externalities of Nuclear Power Plants: Further Evidence

Several prior studies found no detrimental external effects of nuclear power plants when estimating the distance gradient for housing prices within a hedonic model. Other papers found significant negative effects of nuclear power when studying real asset prices in cross sections of broad market areas.We suggest a resolution and verify that an installation effect occurs after controlling for the tendency of facility builders to seek out cheap land. The study assembles a panel of all commercial market areas, including indicators for nuclear facilities, in the contiguous United States observed 11 times over roughly equal intervals covering the span from 1945 to 1992.     

EUROPEAN BRIEFING

Much has been made of completing the Single European Market in Europe. Despite movements towards more advanced levels of integration such as currency union, there remains several grey areas in specific industries that are not allowing for open access to the market. These areas include government activities such as electricity and gas along with other industries such as telecommunications. This article sets out to examine whether there is likely to be a free market in these sectors and assesses the progress being made since the introduction of a number of procurement directives post-1998. This will therefore have an influence on land use planning. The article draws on the literature of regulation and industrial organization as well as European integration in order to demonstrate the complexities of these industries and the problems of full compliance with the single market.     

Australia's Indigenous Carbon Economy: A National Snapshot

Many Indigenous communities in Australia are well situated to provide greenhouse gas abatement and carbon sequestration benefits, but little is known about the factors affecting the capability of Australia's Indigenous organisations to participate in climate change mitigation strategies. This paper provides a ‘snapshot’ summary of certain aspects of Australia's Indigenous organisations' participation in carbon offset schemes. The snapshot provides insight into the degree to which Indigenous organisations are aware of carbon market opportunities in Australia, the level that these Indigenous organisations participate in or engage with carbon‐based economic enterprises, and the key pathways through which Indigenous carbon market opportunities are pursued. Analysis of data collected from a national survey conducted between 2011 and 2012 show that most obstacles to Indigenous participation in carbon offset schemes relate to land tenure arrangements; geographic and biophysical factors; low levels of requisite technical, human and financial resources; and appropriate recognition of Indigenous knowledge and cultural responsibilities. The snapshot also highlights the value of supporting regionally specific capacity‐building strategies to enable Indigenous people to participate in emerging carbon offset activities and the generation of associated ecosystem services. Cultural, socio‐economic or demographic factors that are also likely to influence the ability of many Indigenous communities to participate in carbon market opportunities are identified as important areas for further research.     

The Anchin manuscript of Passio Olavi (Douai 295), William of Jumièges,and Theodoricus Monachus: New evidence for intellectual relations between Norway and France in the 12th century

That Plotinus and Porphyry lie behind Synesius' De insomniis is generally agreed, but it can be shown that two chapters in particular derive directly or perhaps through the intermediary of a commentary from Plotinus. There is in these chapters a certain amount of interpretation on Synesius' part of the material he draws from Plotinus and in addition a great deal of rhetorical embellishment and amplification. Whether in the rest of the De insomniis Synesius is so directly dependent on a single source that he then reworks and embellishes is hard to say.     

People,Space and Place: a Multidimensional Analysis of Unemployment in Metropolitan Labour Markets

It is becoming increasingly apparent that, in order to understand a range of socio-economic outcomes, research needs to be focused on a multi-dimensional approach that accounts for individual characteristics and behaviours together with locality and activity within space and place. Within labour market analysis there is a need to situate empirical analysis within a conceptual framework that considers both the assets of individuals within the labour force and the social and local labour market contexts in which they find themselves. Using a broad notion of employability, this paper develops an analysis of unemployment in Australia's metropolitan labour markets. Specifically it uses a combination of individual survey data and aggregate labour market data to consider the associations between these multi-level factors. It finds that, while individual characteristics are important in understanding unemployment in metropolitan areas, it is equally the case that the strength of spatially distinct labour markets also plays a role. The paper reaches the conclusion that, while contemporary labour market policy tends to focus on individual characteristics, there is a need to widen the policy understanding of labour market outcomes so that other broader contexts, including the impact of space and place, are also seen as being influential.     

Market Rules and Spatial Outcomes: Insights from the Corporate Restructuring of U.S. Food Retailing

In this paper a study of the corporate restructuring of the U.S. food retail industry, during and following the period of regulatory relaxation and high-leverage capital transformations of the 1980s, is used to interrogate the complex relationships between market regulation, investment regimes, corporate strategies, and spatial outcomes. It is shown that changes in the “rules” governing investment and competition in the United States in the 1980s triggered countervailing spatial processes in the food retail industry. Those processes took more than a decade to work themselves through, but by the late 1990s a radically altered corporate landscape was beginning to emerge. In particular, consolidation of the industry had finally gained momentum–creating an industry whose leading firms are likely by 2002 to have a market share double the level of the early 1990s. The paper concludes by considering the insights which a consideration of corporate restructuring and regulation in this U.S. industry offers for some important areas of conceptual debate in economic geography. In particular, it is argued that industries in which capital structure transformations of the firm must be confronted and treated as a central issue have an intrinsic, but until recently neglected, importance in theoretical debate in the discipline.     

OVER TIME: TIME AND POLITICS IN THE USSR

In areas in which 46 million Soviet citizens live, official statutory time is not observed. Most of these areas lie in the western part of the third Soviet time zone and date from 1930-31 when the Soviet Union adopted Daylight Saving Time on a year round basis. When an additional Summer Time was announced in 1980 (beginning in 1981 from April 1 to October 1), putting the clock two hours ahead of standard time for the summer, it was also announced that local deviations from statutory time would be terminated. In 1982, however, continued local deviations were noted, and some, in fact, permitted by the state. The explanation offered is that citizens and local readers in these areas wish to be on the same time as Moscow.     

Advances in the Theory of Market Areas

The purpose of the paper is to state general properties of theoretical market areas of cities. We consider two centers on the Euclidean plane, several models describing the spatial influence of a center, and a general, continuous, and strictly increasing transportation cost function. Derived properties of market areas concern area measure, topological bounds, emptiness, boundedness, connectedness, convexity, and the membership of a city to its own market area. In particular, it is shown how the shape of market areas changes with the transportation cost function. Finally, prospects for further research are presented.     

Notes on Certain Objects of Stag–s Horn Used for Hafting Stone Implements or Weapons

Part of a cemetery of uncertain extent was excavated following its discovery during work upon a late prehistoric and Roman rural settlement. At least four of the inhumations appeared to lie within square-ditched enclosures with entrances on the east. Bone survival was very poor but one skeleton, from a double burial, was dated to the mid-seventh century and was probably female. The practice of square-ditched burial is discussed and it is suggested that the burials are a widespread but uncommon form of secular elite burial in areas outside Saxon control.