Fifteen or so years into what is said to be the game changer of our time there are many fields of science  focusing  their  attention  towards  the  online  market  in  attempts  to  describe  its implications for the traditional, offline markets. Where most of the literature on economics of ecommerce focus on pricing mechanisms and growth little attention has been directed towards more general market structure effects. This thesis adopts techniques, empirical and theoretical models  from  the  search  cost  and  market  structure  literature  in  order  to  examine  the relationships between ecommerce and offline market structures in the retail industry through regional employment and establishment data. The literature reviewed and used focus only on the US market whereas this thesis shifts the attention to the European regions. The results are convincing and in general corresponding to previous research results. As ecommerce usage increase and the consumer search costs thereby gets lower inefficient firms drop out of the market resulting in a decline in local establishment counts. The opposite effect is seen for pure online retailing establishments that thrive in the presence of local ecommerce usage. The effect of   ecommerce  on  traditional  offline  establishments  seems  to  be  aggregated  phenomena whereas  the  effect  on  pure  online  firms  seems  to  be  of  a  more  local  nature.  Focus  of policymakers and company management therefore might consider looking at the two effects in their respective aggregation level to best sort out how to react in the presence of increased competition from ecommerce usage.

This paper considers the widely successful employee discount pricing (EDP) promotional program of 2005 to uncover the nature of competition in the US automobile industry, with a specific focus on the big three automakers. In contrast to previous research on automobile competition, this paper uses quarterly average dealer-level transaction price data to capture the short term nature of inter-firm competition that might be embedded in such promotional programs. In doing so, a structural oligopoly model of differentiated products is setup explicitly incorporating the nature of competitive interactions. Results imply that the overall nature of competitiveness in the US automobile industry is consistent with a static model of Bertrand behaviour without any changes in conduct among the big three during the EDP promotion period. These results corroborate the problems of inventory backlog faced by the big three in recent years and indicate that the EDP program has been more of a novel marketing intent on part of the big three to clear up such backlogs.

This dissertation consists of two theoretical papers on market-based environmental policy. The first paper exploits the correlation between the environmental performance of firms and their economic performance to show that financial markets can be used to help enforce environmental policy and to design more efficient regulations. The results indicate that when markets punish firms for not complying with environmental standards, environmental regulators can exploit this by setting stricter standards. In fact, it is possible for the regulator to use market-driven enforcement to reduce a firm’s emissions and monitoring of the firm simultaneously. The second paper provides a theoretical analysis of the nature of an optimal emissions tax when firms’ emissions are not perfectly observable. The purpose is to examine how the optimal tax is affected by enforcement costs and the market structure. We obtain the result that market imperfections and enforcement costs push the optimal tax lower than the marginal damage when the number of firms in the market is exogenous. However, when the number of firms is determined endogenously enforcement costs generate two countervailing effects on the optimal tax. The overall effect of enforcement costs on the optimal tax depends on the strength of direct relative to indirect effects when there is free entry and exit.

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Denna studie undersöker hur illegala polska migranter lever och arbetar i Stockholm. Syftet med uppsatsen är att undersöka varför polacker väljer illegal invandring till Stockholm som strategy. Dessutom hur strukturer i den svenska arbetsmarknaden och kontrol myndigheter påverkar dem. Studien visar att de flesta polacker hade kontakter med polska nätverk som redan var etablerade i Sverige före tanken på migration som en möjlig strategy tog form. Starka länkar kunde utskiljas mellan dessa nätverk i Stockholm och två regioner i norra Polen. Länkar kunde också utskiljas till tre regioner i södra Polen. Resultaten visar att strukturer inom den svenska arbetsmarknaden har gjort hemstädning till en niche för polacker som arbetar svart i Stockholm. Studien visar att många arbetade svart inom bygg och trädgårdsbranchen, dock inte i samma uttsträckning. Att resa genom Tyskland för att ta sig till Sverige var ett vanligt sätt att kringgå starka gränskontroller före det polska EU medlemskapet. Det svenska personnumret fungerar väl som kontrolfunktion och gör det svårt för illegala polacker att hyra lägenheter. För att kringgå detta hyr de ofta enstaka rum istället. En majoritet av polacker i studien tror inte att ett polsk EU medlemskap kommer att påverka deras arbete och leverne i Stockholm och kommer därmed fortsätta att arbeta svart. / This thesis is a study on Polish irregular migrants living and working in the Stockholm metropolitan region. The aim of the paper is to find out why Poles choose irregular migration to Stockholm as a strategy, and how the Swedish labour market structure and control authorities influence them. This study shows that most Poles had contacts with Polish networks already established in Sweden before contemplating irregular migration as a strategy. Strong links could be found between these networks in Stockholm and two regions in northern Poland. Clear links were also found to three regions in southern Poland. Swedish labour market structure has helped to make domestic cleaning a niche for undocumented Poles in Stockholm although many were also working in the gardening and building/renovation sectors. Results from this paper show that strong Swedish control functions make a number of survival strategies necessary to enter and live undocumented in Sweden. Transiting through Germany was a common way for undocumented Poles to bypass strong Swedish migration controls before Poland joined the EU. Internal control functions such as the Swedish personal ID number make renting apartments difficult for undocumented Poles, which make renting rooms a better option. A majority of undocumented Poles do not believe that Poland%u2019s membership will affect their work and lives in Stockholm and they will therefore continue to work undocumented.

Submitted by Filipe dos Santos (fsantos@pucsp.br) on 2016-12-01T12:11:17Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Antonio de Oliveira.pdf: 832649 bytes, checksum: a593acbe0073ec647ea51dbdec8b146c (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-01T12:11:17Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Tiago Antonio de Oliveira.pdf: 832649 bytes, checksum: a593acbe0073ec647ea51dbdec8b146c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-10-19 / This dissertation examines how the Brazilian banking system concentration process has shaped this industry competitive conditions and structure trying to identify whether the sector optimizes efficiency based on relevant literature. Firstly, the development of the banking sector is presented through a historical overview focused on two key events: the wholesale bank law of 1988, as well as, the financial stability reached by 1994. Secondly, the theoretical reference is presented as to fundament this academic debate. Quantitative data from Brazilian banking sector from September 2009 to December 2014 is presented and analyzed through concentration indicators as to measure the market concentration degree, the results suggests a highly concentrated market. Lastly, an econometric analysis of panel data estimates a regression used on the hypothesis test inferring the market structure with the Panzr-Rosse methodology. Results suggest that Brazilian banking sector is characterized as a monopolistic competition / Essa dissertação analisa o processo de concentração no setor bancário brasileiro e como ele interfere em sua estrutura de concorrência. Com isso, a partir da literatura pertinente, buscouse identificar se o setor opera maximizando sua eficiência. Para tal, inicia-se com a contextualização histórica e apresenta-se o processo de desenvolvimento do mercado bancário no Brasil, de forma a discutir as principais alterações, como a lei dos bancos múltiplos em 1988 e a estabilização monetária de 1994, esta última que redundou em vários bancos entrando em processo falimentar. A parti daí, apresenta-se o referencial teórico que vai fundamentar o debate a respeito do tema. A seguir, são visualizados e tratados os dados do setor bancário brasileiro no período de setembro de 2009 até dezembro de 2014. Com essa base, realiza-se a investigação de vários indicadores para mensurar o grau de concentração, e se constatar o elevado grau de concentração do setor. Por último, estima uma regressão econométrica com dados em painel, a qual é utilizada para a execução de um teste de hipótese específico com a metodologia de Panzar-Rosse que permite inferir qual o tipo de estrutura de concorrência é encontrado no mercado. Os dados apontam que o setor bancário brasileiro se caracteriza como concorrencial monopolista

De senaste två decennierna har forskare i Sverige och andra länder riktat allt större intresse mot offentliga marknader. Sådana organisatoriska arrangemang skapas runtom i svenska kommuner. Den här studien är en longitudinell studie av en process där en offentlig marknad för grundskoleutbildning skapas och utvecklas i en svensk kommun. Tidigare forskning har visat att offentliga marknader kan betraktas som marknader i enlighet med exempelvis mikroekonomisk teori, samtidigt som de besitter egenskaper som skiljer dem från ”traditionella” marknader. I studien tillämpas teorier om organisatorisk förändring tillsammans med teorier om marknadsstrukturer. Studien visar hur den marknadsskapande processen kännetecknas av ett samspel mellan voluntarism och determinism där medveten planering och kontroll tydligt kommer till uttryck men där även tilltron till marknaden som ett självreglerande arrangemang är stark. Studiens teoretiska relevans diskuteras tillsammans med praktiska implikationer för offentliga marknadsskapare. / During the last two decades there has been an increasing interest in quasi-markets in Sweden and internationally. Quasi-markets are emerging as new organizational arrangements in many Swedish municipalities. This thesis is a longitudinal study of a process of creation and formation of a quasi-market for compulsory school education in a Swedish municipality. Previous research has suggested that quasimarkets can be regarded as markets according to microeconomic theory but they also possess a number of features that distinguish them from “traditional” markets. In this study, theories of organizational change are combined with theories of market structure. The study shows how the process of quasi-market creation features an interplay of voluntarism of determinism where purposeful planning and control coexist with a strong belief in market self-regulation. The theoretical relevance of the study is discussed along with practical implications for those participating in market creation.

Since the economic reform was initiated in 1978, the Chinese banking sector has undergone significant changes, particularly during the period under our investigation. This is primarily induced by the WTO entry in 2001, which brought in to full openness the financial market in China. The ultimate objective of the recent banking reform is to promote competition and efficiency as a way of improving the overall competitiveness and banking performance, in order to cope with challenges from foreign competitors. With the purpose of examining whether the recent banking reform is effective in achieving the targets as well as suggesting future policy directions, this study investigates market competition, cost efficiency and profitability in the Chinese banking industry over those critical years (1997-2006) before and after the WTO entry. We first employ both structural (the SCP) and non-structural (the Panzar-Rosse) approach to evaluate market competition. Then we estimate cost efficiency for Chinese banks under the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA). Finally, we assess the relationship between profitability and market structure under the structure-performance hypothesis and the efficient-structure hypothesis. Our findings show that Chinese banking market become less concentrated and more competitive since the WTO entry. Chinese banks improve their cost efficiencies, with state-owned banks are the least efficient while joint equity banks are the most efficient. The explanation for the relationship between profitability and market structure is quite mixed. The acceptance of which hypothesis depends on which dependent variable is used.