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No. of bitstreams: 1 EESPTeseRASdeAndrade.pdf: 1265756 bytes, checksum: 82c4e08660eaa9502491828c36fba380 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015-08-25 / This dissertation investigates how credit institutions’ market power limits the effects of creditor protection rules on the interest rate and the spread of bank loans. We use the Brazilian Bankruptcy Reform of June/2005 (BBR) as a legal event affecting the institutional environment of the Brazilian credit market. The law augments creditor protection and aims to improve the access of firms to the credit market and to reduce the cost of borrowing. Either access to credit or the credit cost are also determined by bank industry competition and the market power of suppliers of credit. We derive a simple economic model to study the effect of market power interacting with cost of lending. Using an accounting and operations dataset from July/2004 to December/2007 provided by the Brazilian Central Bank, we estimate that the lack of competition in the bank lending industry hinders the potential reducing effect of the BBR on the interest rate of corporate loans by approximately 30% and on the spread by approximately 23%. We also find no statistical evidence that the BBR affected the concentration level of the Brazilian credit market. We present a brief report on bankruptcy reforms around the world, the changes in the Brazilian legislation and on some recent related articles in our introductory chapter. The second chapter presents the economic model and the testable hypothesis on how the lack of competition in the lending market limits the effects of improved creditor protection. In this chapter, we introduce our empirical strategy using a differences-in-differences model and we estimate the limiting effect of market power on the BBR’s potential to reduce interest rates and on the spread of bank loans. We use the BBR as an exogenous event that affects collateralized corporate loans (treatment group) but that does not affect clean consumer loans (control group) to identify these effects, using different concentration measures. In Chapter 3, we propose a two-stage empirical strategy to handle the H–Statistics proposed by Panzar and Rosse as a measure of market competition. We estimate the limiting effects of the lack of competition in replacing the concentration statistics by the H–Statistics. Chapter 4 presents a structural break test of the concentration index and checks if the BBR affects the dynamic evolution of the concentration index. / Esta dissertação investiga como o poder de mercado de instituições de crédito limita os efeitos de medidas de proteção ao credor sobre os juros de operações de crédito. Fazemos uso da Reforma na Lei de Falência Brasileira de Junho/2005 (RLF) como evento que afetou o ambiente institucional no mercado de crédito. A Lei elevou a proteção ao credor objetivando melhorar o acesso das empresas ao mercado de crédito e reduzir custos de financiamento. Tanto acesso ao crédito, quanto custos dos empréstimos são, também, determinados pela competição na indústria e pelo poder de mercado dos ofertantes. Derivamos um modelo econômico simplificado, a fim de estudarmos os efeitos da interação do poder de mercado com os custos dos empréstimos. Usando uma base de dados contábeis e de operações de crédito de Julho/2004 a Dezembro/2007, fornecida pelo Banco Central do Brasil, estimamos que a falta de competição na indústria de crédito limita em aproximadamente 30% o efeito redutor potencial da RLF sobre juros e em 23% sobre spreads. Não encontramos evidências estatísticas que a RLF afetou o nível de concentração no mercado de crédito no Brasil. Apresentamos um breve relato sobre as reformas na legislação falimentar em alguns países, as mudanças na legislação brasileira e alguns artigos recentes relacionados no capitulo introdutório. O segundo capítulo apresenta o modelo econômico e as hipóteses testáveis sobre como a falta de competição no mercado de crédito limita os efeitos da elevação da proteção ao credor. Neste capítulo, introduzimos nossa estratégia empírica usando o modelo de diferenças-em-diferenças e estimamos o efeito limitador do poder de mercado sobre o potencial da RLF em reduzir juros e spreads. Usamos a RLF como um evento exógeno que afeta empréstimos corporativos colateralizados (grupo de tratamento), mas não afeta empréstimos a consumidores (grupo de controle) com diferentes medidas de concentração. No Capítulo 3, propomos uma estratégia empírica em dois estágios, a fim de usarmos a Estatística-H proposta por Panzar e Rosse como medida de poder de mercado. Estimamos o efeito limitador da ausência de competição sobre a taxa de juros e sobre o spread, substituindo os índices de concentração pela Estatística-H. O Capítulo 4 apresenta uma análise de séries temporais do índice de concentração e testa se a RFB afetou a concentração.

Submitted by Rodolfo Rodriguez (rodolfo.rodriguez@itau-unibanco.com.br) on 2010-06-02T12:00:51Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Rodolfo_Rodriguez.pdf: 513830 bytes, checksum: 559d56f7d39065af19e2fb8f14ce69d4 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Daniella Santos(daniella.santos@fgv.br) on 2010-06-02T12:14:42Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Rodolfo_Rodriguez.pdf: 513830 bytes, checksum: 559d56f7d39065af19e2fb8f14ce69d4 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2010-06-02T14:06:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao_Rodolfo_Rodriguez.pdf: 513830 bytes, checksum: 559d56f7d39065af19e2fb8f14ce69d4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-07-16 / Insurance markets under supervision of SUSEP have shown decrease in number of companies and increase in Herfindahl Hirschman Index. This potential issue is undermined by Gini Index and other market Power tests that indicate that prices were not affected accordingly. International experience shows concentration to be higher in life insurance than non life insurance. This fact has impact in prices, which are higher in life insurance market, and indicates relevant differences between life and non life insurance markets. / Os mercados de seguros regulados pela SUSEP apresentaram queda no número de empresas e elevação no índice de concentração de Herfindahl Hirschman. O que parece um quadro preocupante no âmbito da regulação é atenuado pela diminuição do índice de Gini e outros testes de poder de mercado que não indicam que esta queda no número de empresas tenha tido impacto sobre o nível de preços. Assim como esperado a partir da evidência internacional, a concentração é maior nos mercados de seguros de vida do que nos não-vida. Este fato tem reflexo nos preços, que apresentam patamares mais altos nos seguros de vida, indicando diferença mais substancial entre mercados.

Name of thesis: Special regulation of obligations between food suppliers and clients Abstract The thesis addresses the issues connected to Act No. 395/2009 Coll., on significant market power in the sale of agricultural and food products and abuse thereof. The Act applies to obligations between suppliers of food products and buyers with such market power which allows them to use disadvantageous business conditions towards their suppliers, abusing their power. The Act's impact on the business relationships between suppliers and buyers in particular is considered as well as the conflict between the principles of protection of weaker contracting party and contractual freedom. The first chapter contains an analysis of the supplier-buyer relationship and the food market which serves as its platform. Beside the definition of food products, the chapter contains characterization of both parties, the evolution of the food market over time and evaluation of the capability of both suppliers and buyers to affect the conditions of their relationship. The second chapter deals with the Significant Market Power Act itself, particularly its purpose, circumstances of its adoption and the subsequent reactions of the interested parties and the public. The process of the Act's amendment in 2016 is described as well as the...

O objetivo desta dissertação é realizar um estudo sobre a evolução das estruturas de mercado da indústria de máquinas agrícolas em âmbito mundial, destacando os países e o contexto de sua origem, bem como as características de sua expansão internacional. As estratégias de fusão e aquisição, adotadas como forma predominante de entrada em novos mercados, são enfatizadas, assim como o seu papel sobre o aumento do poder de mercado na indústria brasileira de tratores agrícolas. Para isso o trabalho foi dividido em três capítulos. O primeiro capítulo traz o embasamento teórico sobre as estruturas de mercado em oligopólio e suas formas de concorrência, além de um levantamento histórico da indústria de forma a relacioná-los, destacando suas principais características e marcos de sua evolução. O segundo capítulo traz um panorama geral da indústria e do mercado de máquinas agrícolas mundial na última década, definindo os principais players, suas características e vantagens que proporcionaram o desenvolvimento desta indústria, além de uma caracterização dos padrões de comércio internacional predominantes. Por fim, o último capítulo tem seu foco no caso brasileiro e analisa os impactos da concentração de mercado sobre desempenho da indústria em termos de poder de mercado, realizando, para isto, a estimação dos parâmetros de uma função demanda por tratores agrícolas (elasticidade preço da demanda) e de um indicador de poder de mercado (índice de Lerner). Os resultados desta pesquisa permitem demonstrar que esta indústria tornou-se concentrada com o advento da Revolução Industrial, formando um grande oligopólio, primeiramente em nível nacional e, posteriormente, internacional. A concentração e a internacionalização deram-se principalmente por meio de fusões e aquisições, tendo impactos sobre os níveis e as formas de concorrência predominantes. Os países emergentes exercem papel cada vez mais importante como produtores e demandantes de tratores e colheitadeiras, embora os Estados Unidos e a Europa sejam ainda os principais mercados para esta indústria. No mercado brasileiro, ainda que não tenham ocorrido mudanças significativas na elasticidade preço da demanda, a fusão de duas grandes multinacionais elevou significativamente os índices de poder de mercado por meio do aumento da concentração de mercado. / The aim of this study is to conduct an analysis about the evolution of market structures of agricultural machinery worldwide industry, highlighting the countries and the context of its origin, as well as the characteristics of its international expansion. Merger and acquisition strategies, adopted as predominant form of entry into new markets, are emphasized, as well as its role on the increase of market power in the Brazilian industry of agricultural tractors. The work was divided into three chapters. The first chapter provides the theoretical basis on oligopoly market structures and its forms of competition, in addition to a historical survey of the industry in order to relate them, highlighting its main features and landmarks of its evolution. The second chapter provides an overview of the industry and world agricultural machinery market in the last decade, defining the major players, their characteristics and advantages that afforded the development of this industry, in addition to a characterization of predominant international trade patterns. Finally, the last chapter has its focus on the Brazilian case and analyzes the impacts of market concentration on the industry\'s performance in terms of market power, performing, for this, the estimation of the parameters of a demand function for agricultural tractors (price elasticity of demand) and an indicator of market power (Lerner index). The results allow demonstrating that this industry became concentrated with the advent of the Industrial Revolution, forming a large oligopoly, first at national level and, subsequently, international. The concentration and internationalization came mainly through mergers and acquisitions, having impacts on the levels and forms of competition prevalent. Emerging countries has increased their importance as producers and plaintiffs of tractors and combines, though the United States and Europe are the main markets for this industry. In the Brazilian market, although there have been no significant changes in the price elasticity of demand, the merger of two large multinationals has raised significantly the market power by increasing market concentration.

This study investigates the market conditions under which the Greek manufacturing sectors operate, and provides a formal measurement and determination of the observed degree of rigidity in nominal prices using panel modelling techniques. Two parameters in particular are found to capture the essence of market imperfections and price rigidity arising from various sources: the first parameter is conjectural variation elasticity which defines the degree of market divergence from perfect competition; and the last parameter refers to the speed of price adjustment towards the equilibrium level, which is estimated along with a set of important factors that affect this parameter. The data sample of this research consists of 56 3-digit manufacturing sectors, as defined by Eurostat (NACErev2) over the period 1980-2012, while the econometrical approach mainly incorporates the Fixed and Random Effects Model for panel data. The estimation process is divided into four steps: in the first step, the degree of market power and the speed of price adjustment are estimated for the whole manufacturing industry; in the second step, the same process is reiterated for the 3-digit sectors individually; in the third step the estimations are conducted for each year over 1980-2012; in the last step, the effects of a set of variables on the speed of price adjustment are estimated in order to provide an adequate interpretation of how market imperfections and price rigidities can be formed and how they relate to each other. By using the Greek economy as a case study, the empirical results provide significant evidence of a degree of market power similar to the one of a duopoly accompanied by relatively slow price adjustment in the 56 manufacturing sectors and the 33 years over 1980-2012.

The ancillary services are of immanent importance for secure and reliable network operation. As a result of the energy turnaround in Germany, conventional power plant capacities that have so far provided these ancillary services will significantly be reduced. Particularly with regard to frequency control and grid operation, it has already become apparent today that high costs can be expected if current practice and market conditions are maintained. The aim of this thesis is to investigate options for a cost-efficient transformation of the electricity system with a focus on the ancillary services frequency control and grid operation. In a first step, the ancillary services and their development in the recent past is addressed. In a second step, the effects of different cooperation between network operators on network operation are investigated. Here it is shown that in the medium term an intensified cooperation on transmission grid operator level has a positive impact on the operation of the grid. In the long term, it is necessary for distribution system operators to cooperate more closely in order to ensure cost-efficient and secure network operation. In a third step, options for the market design of balancing power markets are examined. The results show that it is necessary to make tendering times more flexible so that renewable energies can participate in the markets and, at the same time, more players can participate in these markets. With these adjustments it is possible to significantly reduce the cost of balancing power to levels below those of 2014. Finally, it is examined which market inefficiencies may occur in more flexible balancing markets due to strategic bidding behavior. Especially in the upward markets it can be seen that increasing market inefficiencies are to be expected, which, however, can be limited by increased international cooperation and the participation of renewable energies.

Nous prenons l’approche d’annonce des salaires avec la recherche d’emploi à étudier trois problèmes dans le marché du travail. Le premier problème concerne l’arrêt de travail prématuré des travailleurs. Tel arrêt de travail prématuré crée des risques de chiffre d’affaires pour les entreprises, donc les entreprises veulent proposer des profils de salaire pour minimiser ces risques. Dans ce problème, l’asymétrie de l’information joue un rôle important. Nous adoptons une approche du mécanisme design et considérons les différents timings auxquels l’information privée est réalisée. Dans un papier de suivi, nous proposons une politique d’Age spécifique par laquelle cette inefficacité peut être atténuée, et étudions son implication sur le bien-être et la production globale. Dans le deuxième problème, nous revisitons l’analyse du bien-être de l’impact de la discrimination sur le choix des compétences sous une norme d’embauche multidimensionnelle le long des caractéristiques qui sont soit liées à la productivité soit indépendantes de la productivité. Nous montrons comment l’investissement de compétences stratégique entre le groupe favorise et discrimine se pose. Nous comparons également deux mécanismes de détermination des salaires (salaire annoncé et négocié) pour vérifier la robustesse de résultats. Dans le troisième problème, nous considérons dans quelle mesure l’allocation de chômage et le salaire minimum peuvent corriger les répartitions inefficaces découlant du pouvoir de marche des firmes. Notre contexte concerne les petits marchés ou le ratio travailleurs/firmes ne soit pas grand. L’imperfection de marche vient du fait qu’au marché du travail à petite échelle les firmes paient un niveau de salaire moins que le niveau compétitif. Nous procédons à partir d’un point de vue d’organisation industrielle, et proposons en se concentrant sur la mauvaise répartition d’emploi et de surplus lors de l’analyse de l’efficacité de l’instrument de la politique. / We take the wage posting approach with search friction to study three issues in labor market. The first issue concerns the premature quitting of workers. Our framework is suitable for contexts such as disability shock, retirement, maternity leaves etc. Such premature quitting creates turnover risks for firms, hence the firms propose wage profiles to minimize or avoid it. In this issue, the asymmetric information plays an important role. We adopt an approach of mechanism design and consider different timings at which the private information is realized. In a follow-up paper, we propose an age-directed policy by which this inefficiency can be alleviated and study its implication on welfare and aggregate output. In the second issue, we revisit welfare analysis of impact of discrimination on skill choice under a multi-dimensional hiring norm along both productivity-related and -unrelated characteristics. We show how strategic skill investment between favored and discriminated group arise. We compare also two wage determination mechanisms (posted and bargained wage). In the third issue, we consider to which extent can the roles of unemployment benefit and minimum wage correct inefficient allocations arising from firms’ market power. Our context concerns small markets where the workers/firms ratio is not large. The market imperfection comes from the fact that in such a small market firms pay less than competitive level of wages. We proceed from an industrial organizational perspective and suggest focusing on both misallocation of labor and surplus when analyzing the effectiveness of the policy instrument.

The research question that moves the present work is whether and how competition law shall play a role in making our society more ‘sustainable’, intending this term in a broad meaning, and therefore linked to social, economic and environmental sustainability. The question raises from the awareness of the problems that are affecting our society, also if we refer at its democratic foundations. In particular, we considered that issues such as increasing income inequalities, raising market concentration rates and the even faster climate changes are topics that cannot be outside the academic analysis of the various policies. Therefore, if we try to answer at the question if competition law shall play a role in this context, the analysis should start from the very foundations of this discipline. At this purpose, in our research, we scrutinised how the most representative competition law regimes in the world - i.e., the US antitrust law and the EU competition law systems – developed during their history. This analysis is conducted by reading through legislative sources, policy statements, judicial decisions and scholar works. What emerges is that competition law shall not only be focused on mere economic and econometric objectives, such economic efficiency, but it was intended more as a structural instrument, created for preventing the concentration of an excessive degree of economic power on the same subject or on a bounce of entities. Therefore, after having affirmed this structuralist aim of competition law, it is possible to understand how every other objective shall be considered as a by-product of a healthy competitive process, and not as an end of competition law in itself. This is particularly clear in the European context, as competition law ought not to be intended as a separate or lone subject, but as a field of law well rooted into the EU and its Member States’ constitutional traditions. After having established that competition law shall play a role in the transition towards a more sustainable society, the focus moves on how this task shall be performed. For this purpose, the present research scrutinised the issues we mentioned before, by making a comparative analysis between the EU and the U.S. competition law and antitrust models and, inside the EU environment, among the various solutions adopted in the Member States. This analysis first needed to be carried out by means of an empirical assessment of the issue at stake, especially from an economic standpoint. Then, the legal tools needed in order to reach the desired outcomes were scrutinised, first by making reference to the solutions already adopted by enforcers and Courts on the basis of the existing rules, and, subsequently, new tools are analysed and proposed. In particular, the research establishes a connection between income inequalities and the increasing rates of market concentration. The latter dynamic was deemed particularly intense in the digital market context, which are characterised by market dynamics which escape from the common understanding of competition, as they lead the market to tip in favour of a firm, usually the first mover. In a nutshell, they are characterised by a sort of winner takes all structure. This field represents the core of this research, as it is where excessive market concentration shows most its detrimental effects and the need to a structuralist approach to competition law appears much needed. Therefore, this work aims to provide its contribution to the very active academic debate on this field. However, this research does not want to be limited to the digital market problem but is directed at casting lights on the need for a multi-value approach to competition law at 360 degrees, which can turn into a multi-tool enforcement to better tailor the application of competition rules to all the analysed issues, which are however interrelated thanks to the broad concept of ‘sustainability’ outlined above, in line with the Brundtland Report on sustainability issued in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development. What emerges is that competition law ought to play a role in the transition towards a more sustainable economy and society. This depends on policy choices, and this work is aimed – in the realm of the current scholar debate on this topic – at providing its constructive contribution. However, what is important to affirm is that policy choices directed at establishing the multi-value and multi-tool competition law described above are not only based on progressive or hipster academic ideas, but they are deeply rooted into our societies’ constitutional traditions, and, in the end, in a healthy conception of the liberal economy itself.

No description available.

Previous studies have found a positive association between the costs of switching providers and market power in the banking sector. We believe a similar association exists in the Swedish home insurance industry, given that Finansinspektionen's (2022) previous findings indicate price walking, a premium paid by loyal customers, is prevalent in the market. We therefore investigate whether there exists a positive association between switching costs and market power in the Swedish home insurance market using a panel data approach between the years of 2012-2022. We employ Shy's (2002) measure to estimate switching costs and the Lerner index to estimate market power. The results reveal a statistically significant association between switching costs and market power, indicating that reducing switching costs could help reduce market power, potentially benefiting consumers. These results are robust between model choices, period, and measure of price and costs. The findings also imply that decreases in switching costs could lower consumer prices by increasing competition and reducing profit margins. To reduce switching costs, we propose investigating the effects of standardizing insurance policies for easier comparison and exploring the potential effects of discouraging cumulative discounts that deter customers from changing providers.