Existing theoretical literature fails to explain satisfactorily the differences between the pay of workers that are covered by collective agreements and others who are not. This study aims at providing a model framework which is amenable for an analysis of this issue. Our general-equilibrium approach integrates a dual labor market and a two-sector product market. The results suggest that the so-called 'union wage gap' is largely determined by the degree of centralization of the bargains, and, to a somewhat lesser extent, by the expenditure share of the unionized sector's goods.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:30:44Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Andre Wakamatsu.pdf: 3217691 bytes, checksum: 1c24d8cfb446c335c1b83266a22241de (MD5) Previous issue date: 2011-02-17 / Fundo Mackenzie de Pesquisa / The competitive strategy of a firm is defined by choosing one alternative over the rivals, from differentiated activities set to deliver a product or service (strategic positioning). If firms cooperate or collude with each other, they don t have choices conflict and the strategy would not be necessary. To verify if several firms in the same market are in collusion, the responsible economic defense agencies considers the hypothesis that firms are in monopolistic competition (known as the hypothetical monopolist approach). Coe, Krause (2008) made an empirical study with the methods commonly used to evaluate the price-based approaches using synthetic data obtained from a market simulation with differentiated products. However,the authors consider a market structure where firms try to maximize profit without the constraint that, in long run, economic profit is zero. The aim of this work was to generate synthetic data considering the monopolistic competition and analyze if two econometric tests,Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and co-integration, can be used to delimitate this market structure. Since it was considered that the market consists of firms that have products with substitutes, the trends of the firms prices was stationary over time and therefore the price series should be correlated and co-integrated. In addition, it was analyzed what would happen to the equilibrium prices when an importing company, for example, a product that would be considered a substitute by the consumers, but had no problems related to the increased cost of production in the domestic market. It was observed that the importing firms, when its price was lower than that the other firms in the domestic market, tend to slow the increase of the firms price. / A estratégia competitiva de uma empresa significa escolher uma alternativa em relação aos concorrentes, a partir de um conjunto diferenciado de atividades, para a entrega de um produto ou serviço de valor único (posicionamento estratégico). Se as empresas não tivessem conflito de escolhas, a estratégia não seria necessária. Uma forma delas não terem conflito de escolha é ter uma conduta de cooperação ou conluio. Para se verificar se diversas empresas em um mesmo mercado estão em colusão, os órgãos responsáveis pela defesa econômica considera a hipótese de que as empresas estão em concorrência monopolística (conhecida como abordagem do monopolista hipotético). Coe; Krause (2008) fizeram um estudo empírico com relação aos métodos comumente utilizados para avaliar as abordagens baseadas em preço por meio do uso de dados sintéticos obtidos de uma simulação de um mercado com produtos diferenciados. Entretanto, os autores consideraram uma estrutura de mercado em que as empresas tentam maximizar o lucro, sem a restrição de manter o lucro econômico igual a zero. Neste trabalho, a proposta foi gerar dados sintéticos considerando que as empresas estão em competição monopolística e analisar se dois testes econométricos, Dickey-Fuller ampliado (ADF) e co-integração, servem para delimitar este tipo de estrutura. Uma vez que foi considerado que o mercado é composto de empresas que tem produtos substitutos próximos, a evolução dos preços exercidos pelas empresas foi estacionária ao longo do tempo e, portanto, as séries dos preços eram correlacionadas e co-integradas. Além disso, também foi analisado o que ocorreria com os preços de equilíbrio quando uma empresa importadora, por exemplo,importasse um produto que seria considerado um substituto direto pelos consumidores, mas não tivesse os problemas relacionados ao aumento do custo de produção no mercado nacional.Foi observado que uma empresa importadora, quando exerce um preço menor do que o exercido pelas empresas do mercado nacional, tende a diminuir o ritmo de aumento do preço das outras empresas, disciplinando-as.

There is now increasing evidence that for the U.S. economy, the elasticity of substitution between capital and labor, “sigma”, is rising over time. To account for this, we propose a microfounded model, where the evolution of “sigma”, and, hence, the shape of the aggregate production function occur endogenously. We develop a Schumpeterian growth model in which firms can undertake R&D activities that stochastically lead to the discovery of production technologies characterized by a higher elasticity of substitution between capital and labor. Improved possibilities for factor substitution mitigate the diminishment of the marginal product of capital and spur capital accumulation. Due to successful innovations, the steady state of the economy entails higher levels of the capital stock and the output good. Moreover, our numerical simulations show that the timing of innovations is important: two economies with the same steady-state elasticity of substitution between capital and labor can differ in terms of their steady-state levels of the capital stock and the output good.

The majority of wheat research in the world and in Canada is conducted by the public sector. The government of Canada has introduced legislation to update its plant breeder’s rights (PBR) legislation, making Canada compliant with the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) 91 convention, with the goal to stimulate private investment in wheat variety research. International experience with UPOV 91 reveals a wide range of outcomes depending on the specific royalty setting mechanisms allowed within their domestic legislation. This thesis compares Canada’s existing policy to three very different international examples (France, United Kingdom, and Australia) of UPOV 91 compliant royalty collection systems for wheat. The model presented is one of a monopolistic competitive wheat-breeding industry with the introduction of a new certified seed variety. Farmers have the option to use farm saved seed (FSS) or certified seed on their farm. The additional economic benefit created from the innovation and its distribution is analyzed and interpreted for both, farmers (social benefit) and breeders (private benefit). The results of the analysis show that while each UPOV 91 compliant model generates more revenue for farmers and breeders than Canada’s current policy, they tend to generate less than expected revenue in the short-run. If a country has strong intellectual property rights (IPRs), it will attract some domestic and foreign investment and possibly a beneficial collaboration between the public, private, and producer sector, also known as P4 (public-private-producer-partnerships).

La présente thèse propose une étude de la genèse de la théorie de la concurrence monopolistique d’Edward H. Chamberlin (1899-1967). L’originalité de notre travail repose sur un récit détaillé et se démarquant de l’approche habituelle consistant à placer notre auteur et son œuvre aux côtés de la concurrence imparfaite de Joan V. Robinson, sans nécessairement s’interroger sur leurs divergences. En particulier, la thèse étaye la version donnée par E. H. Chamberlin dans laquelle l’auteur insiste sur l’importance du duopole et de la différenciation du produit, ainsi que son indépendance par rapport au débat post-marshallien anglais dans l’élaboration de sa théorie. À partir d’une étude détaillée de sa thèse de doctorat, qui constitue la première version de la concurrence monopolistique, d’archives rassemblant essais et correspondances jusqu’ici non publiées et de ses écrits de manière générale, nous apportons des éléments, tantôt confirmant cette version des faits, tantôt nuançant leur portée. Une attention toute particulière est accordée à la question du duopole et à sa place dans la concurrence monopolistique. / This thesis studies the genesis of Edward H. Chamberlin’s monopolistic competition theory. The originality of our work is based on a detailed story, emancipating itself from the usual approach which considers our author’s work and J. Robinson’s imperfect competition as alike without questioning their differences. The thesis develops the version given by Chamberlin in which he insists on the importance of duopoly and product differentiation along with the independence between his theory and the English post-Marshallian debate. Thanks to the study of his Ph. D thesis, which embodies the first version of monopolistic competition, the study of unpublished essays and correspondence and his published writings, we provide new elements sometimes attesting Chamberlin’s version and sometimes moderating its relevance. Specific attention has been given to the duopoly question and its role in monopolistic competition theory.

在這篇論文中，我們應用Obstfeld and Rogoff (1994)兩國對稱和集權經濟的處理方式與Zou (1993)兩國不對稱的模型架構，討論在一個整合的封閉經濟體系以及二國體系下，將壟斷性競爭市場的特性放入其中，考慮貨幣供給成長率變動對總體變數如消費、產出、價格與實質貨幣餘額的影響效果，並利用需求彈性來比較與完全競爭市場差異之處，以了解分析壟斷性競爭市場的貢獻。在此我們得到商品型態的不同，及價格彈性的不同是構成生產者壟斷力的原因之一。此外，在比較靜態的分析上，我們探討貨幣供給成長率改變的效果，比完全競爭市場多了相對價格與產出兩個變數，同時也證明出貨幣超級中立性在壟斷性競爭市場中並不成立。

Mit der hier vorliegenden Arbeit wird ein mikroökonomisches Multiagentenmodell eines Produktionssektors vorgeschlagen. Das Modell folgt einem post-walrasianischem Ungleichgewichtsansatz und beschreibt optimierende Agenten der Produktionsseite. Diese berücksichtigen in probabilistischen Nebenbedingungen Risiken des Cash Flow, die sich aus unsicheren Absatzmengen ergeben. Produzenten stehen in monopolistischer Konkurrenz und lernen durch Beobachten. Wird vorliegendes Modell in ein Totalmodell integriert, so wird es möglich, die sich aus der Klimadebatte ergebenden, notwendigen Veränderungen im Investitions- und Produktionsverhalten zu diskutieren und darzustellen. / In the following thesis I propose a microeconomic Multi-Agent-Model of a production sector. I apply a Post-Walrasian disequilibrium approach and describe optimizing agents. These agents use chance constraints which depict a Cash Flow at Risk approach. Agents act in a Monopolistic-Competition environment.

This thesis concerns both static and dynamic modeling in a spatial computable general equilibrium setting. First, we have applied a static framework for the assessment of economic impacts of the Öresund bridge. Secondly, we make an attempt to enhance the static framework through the introduction of economic dynamics. Third, we introduce the STRAGO model, incorporating monopolistic competition, dynamics and additive transport costs. STRAGO is applied to the analysis of effects from a kilometer tax on freight. The last paper presents a framework for studying the division, or fragmentation of production. This framework uses the standard theory of monopolistic competition, with a production chain extension, through a recursive view of markets. The optimal level of fragmentation in such industries is studied. / QC 20100811

Cette thèse porte sur les difficultés d'accès aux soins dentaires dans le marché français semi-régulé. L'analyse cible la barrière financière d'accès aux soins dentaires et ainsi le rôle et le mécanisme de fixation des prix. La première partie permet de contextualiser la délivrance des soins dentaires en France et montre que la profession de chirurgiens-dentistes est particulièrement isolée dans le domaine sanitaire français. L'objet de la seconde partie est d'identifier les déterminants de l'accès aux soins dentaires. Nous montrons que le programme de prévention pour les enfants M'T'dents, entièrement gratuit, n'était utilisé que par les ménages les plus aisés et touchait peu les ménages défavorisés qui en ont le plus besoin. L'importance du support social dans l'accès aux soins est aussi affirmée dans notre seconde étude empirique. L'accès primaire aux soins dentaires des adultes présente la principale barrière d'accès. Une fois cette difficulté surmontée, les patients engagent le plus souvent les traitements suivants nécessaires, avec des niveaux de dépenses qui peuvent être importants même pour les moins aisés. À la suite de ces résultats, nous nous sommes intéressés spécifiquement au rôle du prix. Nous avons montré que plus le prix des prothèses dentaires était élevé, plus le renoncement à ces soins pour raisons financières était important. D'après nos travaux, l'intensité de la concurrence impacte négativement la fixation des prix contrairement à la solvabilité de la demande. Les prix entre concurrents sont aussi des compléments stratégiques. Ce sont autant de facteurs susceptibles d'être régulés pour lutter contre le renoncement aux soins dentaires et les inégalités sociales de santé qui en résultent. / This thesis concerns the difficulties to access dental care in the semi-regulated French market. The analysis targets the financial barrier of access to dental care and so the role and the mechanism of price setting. The first part gives the background of the French dental care delivery and shows that the profession of dental surgeons is particularly isolated in the French sanitary domain. In the second part we identify the decisive factors of the dental care access. We show that the free preventive program for the children Lov'Ur'Teeth was used only by the wealthiest and affected little the most disadvantaged households, which need it much more. The decisive impact of the social support in access to dental care is also a strong result in our second empirical study. The primary access to the dental treatment presents the main barrier of access. When people overcome this difficulty, they mostly continue the ensuing necessary treatments, that could be very expensive. Following these results, we focused in the role of the price. We showed that the more the prosthetic prices are high, the more is the renunciation for these cares. According to our works, the intensity of the competition impacts negatively the price setting, contrary to the demand's solvency. The prices between competitors are also strategic complements. That are many potential factors to be regulated to fight against the dental unmet need and the resulting social health inequalities.

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays. The common theme of the essays is the behavior of multi-plant firms. An underlying idea in all four of them is that firms possess intangible assets such as management skills and organizational expertise, technological knowledge, marketing know-how and better access to finance capital or natural resources. These assets are typically specific to the respective firm. Due to market imperfections and failures, firms tend to internalize the advantages of firm-specific assets and exploit them themselves rather than sell or lease them to other firms. For instance, intangible assets are often joint inputs in the sense that knowledge developed by one unit can be transferred to another unit within the same firm at a low cost and without diminishing the amount of knowledge available to the first unit. Furthermore, the assets are typically only partly appropriable by their owner, and the market transactions of the assets are hampered due to information asymmetries between a potential buyer and seller. The literature on multinational firms emphasizes the role of intangible firm-specific assets in creating ownership advantages that, together with location and internalization advantages, explain the pattern of foreign direct investments. The essays in this thesis are based on the view that the ownership advantages created by firm-specific assets are the "raison d'etre" of large multi-plant firms. The existence of such assets is assumed to create multi-plant economies of scale and give incentives to make better use of capacity or overheads to gain advantage in size, economies of interdependent activities, integration and/or diversification. Rather than studying the international aspects of firms with intangible assets, the first three essays empirically explore different aspects of multi-plant firm behavior in domestic markets. This analysis has been made possible by the access to unique plant-level data on the thirty largest multinational manufacturing corporations in Sweden. The sample corporations play an important role in the Swedish economy. For instance, the thirty corporations account for about 70 percent of aggregate industrial R&D in 1999. This should be compared with their share of total manufacturing employment, which was about 30 percent during the period of study. The first essay examines the sources of productivity growth within multi-plant firms and particularly emphasizes the role of external restructuring and ownership changes in explaining why multi-plant firms may sustain higher productivity growth as compared to single-plant firms. The second and the third essay explore the idea that large multi-plant corporations exploit their ownership advantages when acquiring partial- and full-firm assets. The second essay analyzes whether technological intangible assets may explain transfers of productive capacity from acquiring corporations to their target. The third essay explores the idea that multi-plant corporations search for targets matching their firm-specific organizational capabilities when acquiring corporate assets. Uncertainty about the matching outcome explains why some acquisitions end in divestitures. However, the likelihood of a "good" match is expected to increase in the buyer's organizational capabilities. The fourth essay, coauthored with Karolina Ekholm, extends the analysis to encompass the international aspects of multinational firms. In this essay, we develop a theoretical model analyzing the localization decisions of multi-plant firms beyond the national borders. More specifically, we develop a two-country model where firms can choose to separate their innovative activities generating an intangible asset from the production of the final good. In our model, there are two agglomeration forces: knowledge spillovers associated with R&D and backward and forward linkages associated with high-tech production. We analyze how the interplay of these forces affects the localization decisions of the firms. / Diss. Stockholm : Handelshögsk., 2003